Medical 


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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


RA  390  .A2  W36  1898 
Wanless,  W.  J.  1865-1933. 
The  medical  mission,  its 
place,  power  and  appeal 


The  Medical  Mission 


ITS  PLACE,  POWER  AND  APPEAL 


BY 

v' 

W.  J.  WANLESS,  M.D. 

Medical  Missionary  under  The  Presbyterian  Board  in  Western  India 
AUTHOR  OF 

“ Medical  Missions  in  India,”  “ Medical  Missions/’  “ Facts 
on  Foreign  Missions  ” 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  WESTMINSTER  PRESS 

1898 


Copyright,  1898,  by 

THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 


AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK 


"PREFATORY  NOTE. 


This  little  book,  while  it  is  intended  primarily  for 
Christian  medical  students,  has  been  prepared  with 
the  object  of  stimulating  among  Christians  in  general  a 
deeper  interest  in  the  work  of  medical  missions. 

The  suggestion  to  prepare  such  a book  came  from 
the  receipt  of  a large  number  of  letters  addressed  to 
the  writer  by  students  and  others  with  regard  to  the 
details  and  general  phases  of  medical  missionary  work. 
The  answers  to  most  of  the  questions  asked  have  been 
embodied  in  the  eleven  chapters  of  this  little  work. 
The  subject  matter  is  based  on  the  experience  of  the 
writer,  for  six  years  a medical  missionary  in  India,  on 
his  general  knowledge,  after  extended  study  of  the 
subject  of  medical  missions  in  different  lands,  and  on 
his  experience  as  Traveling  Secretary  of  the  Student 
Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign  Missions  among  the 
American  medical  schools  while  at  home  on  furlough 
in  1895—96,  during  which  time  he  visited  ninety  out 
of  the  one  hundred  and  eighteen  medical  schools  of 
the  U.  S.  A. 

The  little  book  is  sent  out  in  the  name  of  the  Great 
Physician  with  the  hope  and  prayer  that  this  humble 

3 


4 


Prefatory  Note. 


attempt  to  deepen  interest  in  the  work  of  his  king- 
dom and  to  extend  the  knowledge  of  a form  of  mis- 
sionary work  which  must  lie  very  near  to  the  great  and  i 
loving  heart  of  Him  who  “ himself  took  our  infirmities, 
and  bare  our  diseases,”  may  be  used  of  him  for  thr ! 
praise  and  glory  of  his  own  dear  name. 

W.  J.  W^ANLESS. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Justification  of  Medical  Missions 7 

II.  Xeed  for  Medical  Missions 12 

III.  Some  of  the  Fields 19 

IV.  Function  of  Medical  Missions 38 

V.  Achievements  of  Medical  Missions 41 

VI.  Influence  of  Medical  Missions 47 

VII.  Spiritual  Fruit.. . 52 

Vni.  Value  to  Missionaries 58 

IX.  Support  of  Medical  Missions 01 

X.  Qualifications  for  the  Service 09 

XI.  Appeal  to  Christian  Medical  Students 84 


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I 


THE  MEDICAL  MISSION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

JUSTIFICATION  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

It  has  been  truthfully  said  that  “ the  history  of 
medical  missions  is  the  justification  of  medical  mis- 
sions.” The  medical  mission  is  “ Christlike  in  its 
character,  apostolic  in  its  aim,  and  invaluable  in  its 
influence.”  Said  Dr.  David  Livingstone,  “ I am  a 
missionary,  heart  and  soul.  God  had  an  only  Son  and 
he  gave  him  to  be  a missionary  and  a physician.  A 
poor,  poor  imitation  of  him,  I am  or  wish  to  be.  In 
his  service  I hope  to  live,  in  it  I wish  to  die.”  Of 
all  authority  for  the  medical  mission,  our  Lord  him- 
self is  the  best,  and  he  himself  the  best  example  of  a 
medical  missionary.  “And  Jesus  went  about  all  the 
cities  and  villages,  teaching  in  their  synagogues,  and 
preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing 
every  sickness  and  every  disease  among  the  people.” 
(Matt.  9 : 35). 

It  is  significant  that  so  large  a portion  of  Christ’s 

7 


8 


The  Medical  Mission. 


public  life  was  devoted  to  the  ministry  of  healing.  Of 
the  thirty-six  recorded  miracles  performed  by  him, 
twenty-three  were  miracles  of  bodily  healing  and  three 
of  raising  the  dead.  Besides  those  recorded  as  having 
been  healed  by  Jesus,  thousands  of  others  must  have 
experienced  the  power  of  his  miraculous  touch,  for 
John  evidently  referred  in  part  to  his  works  cf  mercy 
when  he  wrote,  “ And  there  are  also  many  other  things 
which  Jesus  did,  the  which  if  they  should  be  written 
every  one,  I suppose  the  world  itself  could  not  con- 
tain the  books  that  should  be  written”  (John 
21  : 25).  It  was  largely  by  his  miracles  of  divine 
healing  that  Jesus  gave  proof  of  his  divine  mission, 
and  the  heavenly  character  of  his  teaching.  It  was 
chiefly  by  use  of  his  healing  miracles  that  he  estab- 
lished the  validity  of  his  claim  as  the  Son  of  God  and 
the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

Christ’s  healing  miracles  had  a twofold  purpose. 
They  were  primarily  performed  in  order  to  establish 
among  men  the  divine  origin  of  himself  and  his  mis- 
sion, and  secondly  to  relieve  suffering,  thus  proving  to 
men  God’s  love  for  a diseased  and  sin-stricken  world. 
“ But  that  ye  may  know  that  the  Son  of  man  hath 
power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins,  (then  saith  he  to  the 
sick  of  the  palsy).  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and  go  unto 
thine  house”  (Matt.  9:6).  Matthew  records  of 
him  after  he  had  passed  from  place  to  place  healing 
the  crowds  that  thronged  him,  that  “ when  he  saw  the 
multitudes,  he  was  moved  with  compassion  on  them” 


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Justification  of  Medical  Missions.  9 

(Matt.  9 : 36).  Seven  times  Christ  is  spoken  of  in 
the  gospels  as  having  been  “ moved  with  compassion  ” 
and  in  every  case  the  objects  were  persons  having 
purely  temporal  or  physical  ailments. 

John  the  Baptist,  anxious  to  hear  of  the  fulfillment 
of  his  own  prophecy  and  the  outcome  of  his  own 
teaching  concerning  Jesus,  seeks  proof  of  the  Saviour’s 
Messiahship  by  sending  from  the  prison  cell  and  ask- 
ing, “ Art  thou  he  that  should  come,  or  do  we  look  for 
another?”  Speedily  the  Master  replies,  “Go  and 
show  John  again  those  things  which  ye  do  hear  and 
see  : the  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk, 
the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead 
are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached 
to  them”  (Matt,  ii  : 3-5).  Here  Jesus  himself 
emphasizes  the  importance  of  his  healing  ministry 
by  giving  it  the  precedence  in  his  message,  but 
only  to  set  forth  the  truth  that  after  all  it  was 
but  the  precursor  of  his  gospel  ministry.  Christ’s 
healing  ministry  with  respect  to  physical  results 
was  a unique  and  magnificent  success.  With  regard 
to  the  souls  immediately  saved  as  the  outcome  of 
sickness  miraculously  cured  it  was  from  a human 
standpoint  a comparative  disappointment.  I'here 
were  most  probably  thousands  restored  by  Jesus  who 
not  only  personally  did  not  accept  him  as  the  Mes- 
siah, but  who  did  not  so  much  as  thank  him  for 
the  relief  received  at  his  hands.  Of  the  ten  lepers 
cleansed  only  one  returned  to  acknowledge  the  favor 


lO 


The  Medical  Mission. 


by  glorifying  God.  But  while  the  immediate  results 
were  spiritually  discouraging  their  ultimate  effects  have 
been  obviously  far-reaching  and  glorious.  Hence  the 
divine  wisdom  of  our  Lord  was  clearly  manifest  in  his 
choosing  the  miracles  of  healing  as  a means  of  proving 
his  own  divine  nature  and  the  benevolent  character  of 
his  gospel.  (See  Luke  lo  : 25-37). 

It  was  after  a tour  in  Galilee  where  he  had  healed 
“ all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease  ” 
(Matt.  4 : 23)  that  he  preached  his  wonderful  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  He  had  previously  taught  in  act  what 
he  now  enforces  by  word.  It  was  thus  that  he  secured 
the  ear  of  the  multitudes,  for  “ he  taught  as  one  having 
authority  and  not  as  the  scribes.” 

Again  we  read  in  Matt.  10  : i,  7,  8,  “And  when  he 
had  called  unto  him  his  twelve  disciples,  he  gave  them 
power  against  unclean  spirits,  to  cast  them  out,  and  to 
heal  all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  dis- 
ease.” “ And  as  ye  go,  preach,  saying.  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand.  Heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the 
lepers,  raise  the  dead,  cast  out  devils  : freely  ye  have 
received,  freely  give.” 

In  his  prayer  for  his  disciples  he  says:  “As  thou 
hast  sent  me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I also  sent 
them  into  the  world”  (John  17  : 18).  Again  before 
he  ascends  to  glory  he  is  heard  to  say  : “ As  my 

Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I you”  (John. 
20:  21).  His  own  commission  he  passes  on  to  his 
disciples.  (See  Matt.  8:17).  He  commands  them 


Justification  of  Medical  Missions.  ii 

to  do  what  he  himself  had  already  done  in  obedience 
to  God  the  Father’s  command.  Obedience  was  the 
^ keynote  of  Jesus’  life.  His  commands  to  do  were 
enforced  by  his  own  doing  and  the  injunction  to 
“ heal  and  preach  ” was  best  fulfilled  in  himself. 
Christ’s  life  on  earth  for  us,  his  blessed  example  and 
the  legacy  of  his  commands  left  us  are,  therefore,  alike 
his  most  strenuous  appeal,  and  our  most  emphatic 
authority  to  prosecute  the  work  of  medical  missions, 
and  by  so  doing  we  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  “ him 
who  went  about  doing  good.” 


CHAPTER  II. 


NEED  FOR  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

Who  can  estimate  the  constant  and  manifold  bless- 
ings which  come  to  us  as  the  result  of  the  devoted 
and  untiring  labors  of  the  medical  profession  in  Chris- 
tian lands?  Then  how  few  of  us  value  the  blessing  of 
this  medical  movement  in  the  light  of  heathen  igno- 
rance and  cruelty,  or  compare  our  own  sickness,  under 
intelligent  and  sympathetic  treatment  with  the  sick- 
ness of  those  who  are  obliged  to  subject  themselves  to 
the  terrible  barbarities  and  atrocities  commonly  prac- 
ticed in  the  name  of  medicine  in  heathen  lands? 
Imagine  our  own  land  emptied  of  its  magnificent  hos- 
pitals and  medical  institutes,  its  costly  asylums  and 
infirmaries,  its  elaborate  sanatoriums  and  health  resorts, 
its  faithful  physicians,  its  untiring  and  sympathetic 
nurses,  its  medical  societies  and  bureaus,  its  sanitary 
commissions  and  boards  of  health,  and  a host  of  other 
institutions  as  conglomerate  in  name  as  they  are  in 
practice,  but  all  established  for  the  relief  of  the  suffer- 
ing or  instituted  for  the  presentation  of  our  physical 
welfare.  Imagine  ourselves  shorn  of  our  common 
knowledge  regarding  diseases — their  prevention,  their 
12 


Need  for  Medical  Missions.  13 

cure — as  well  as  of  the  practical  sympathy  and  earnest 
solicitude  with  which  the  sick  among  us  are  constantly 
helped  and  comforted.  Imagine  the  resultant  misery, 
the  indescribable  suffering  that  would  inevitably  fol- 
low in  the  wake  of  the  extinction  of  all  these  blessings 
so  commonly  enjoyed  by  or  available  to  us  all,  and 
practically  without  distinction  as  to  race,  color,  creed 
or  station  in  life. 

Imagine  the  epidemics,  the  pestilences,  the  plagues 
that  would  speedily  sweep  the  land,  if  our  disease- 
preventing and  disease-destroying  measures  were 
suddenly  withdrawn.  Imagine,  I repeat,  your  own 
desperation  under  such  conditions  of  life  at  home,  and 
it  will  help  you  to  picture  for  yourself  the  unutterable 
needs  of  the  millions  who  suffer  and  die  within  the 
precincts  of  heathenism  or  under  the  despotism  of 
Moslem  rule,  and  with  none  who  are  able  to  intel- 
ligently afford  them  relief,  and  with  few  who  even  care 
that  they  suffer. 

And  dying!  Yes  and  with  the  frightful  mortality  of 
a soul  a second,  sixty  a minute,  thirty-six  hundred  an 
hour — a city  the  size  of  Albany  blotted  out  of  exist- 
ence every  third  day,  a St.  Louis  disaster  every  half 
hour  in  the  day  and  every  day  in  the  year.  For 
hundreds  of  decades  this  incalculable  loss  of  precious 
lives,  this  eternal  loss  of  immortal  souls  has  continued, 
and  all  the  while  the  wretchedness,  the  pain,  and  the 
misery  in  the  aggregate  quicken  and  intensify.  All 
this,  too,  while  millions  of  professing  Christians — and 


14 


The  Medical  Mission. 


this  is  the  saddest  thing  of  all — millions  of  professing 
Christians  in  the  midst  of  inconceivable  blessings  con- 
ferred on  them  through  the  gospel,  and  oblivious  to 
the  world’s  groans  and  agonies  complacently  forget 
the  solemn  obligation  which  the  very  fact  of  their  own 
God-given  enjoyment  implies — the  obligation  of 
sharing  with  others  what  they  for  the  most  part  lavish 
upon  themselves.  Said  Mrs.  Isabella  Bird  Bishop  on 
the  Exeter  Hall  platform  in  London  three  years  ago, 
after  a tour  of  the  world’s  mission  fields:  “ If  there  were 
time,  I could  tell  you  of  things  which  would  make  it 
scarcely  possible  for  any  one  entering  life  without  a 
fixed  purpose  to  avoid  going  into  training  as  a medical 
missionary.” 

In  Christian  lands  sickness  means  to  us  tenderness 
and  sympathy  on  every  hand.  In  the  house  and  sick- 
room there  is  quietness  in  the  night,  there  is  the 
muffled  foot-fall  during  the  day.  Everything  is  sac- 
rificed for  the  good  of  the  patient.  Neighbors  vie 
with  each  other  in  their  kindness,  and  even  strangers 
are  glad  to  be  of  sendee  to  the  sick.  Invariably  there 
is  a physician  within  calling  distance,  and  always 
within  easy  reach.  There  is  the  well-trained  nurse  or 
faithful  friend  always  at  hand  to  administer  the  sooth- 
ing draught  and  in  every  way  to  secure  the  comfort 
and  quiet  of  the  sufferer.  But  what  does  sickness 
mean  to  the  millions  of  our  fellow-creatures  through- 
out the  East?  It  means  to  the  injured,  “cremated 
rats,”  “wax,”  “rags,”  and  other  filth  stuffed  into 


Need  for  Medical  Missions.  15 

wounds,  “aromatic  mud”  crammed  into  the  nostrils, 
“ boiling  pitch,”  or  “ cow  manure,”  poured  or  plastered 
over  wounds  to  staunch  the  bleeding  and  to  promote 
healing.  It  means  for  the  sick  the  superstitious  wear- 
ing of  amulets  and  charms,  to  prevent  or  cure  disease  ; 
the  swallowing  of  printed  verses  from  so-called  sacred 
books  to  avert  sickness ; or  the  practice  of  sorcery 
and  witchcraft  to  determine  the  cause,  dispel  the  evil 
spirit,  or  drive  out  the  demon  of  disease.  To  others 
it  means  unspeakable  torture,  such  as  the  slow  roast- 
ing of  new-born  infants  and  their  mothers  before  a 
fire  to  promote  warmth  and  to  expedite  recovery,  the 
boring  of  a hole  in  the  sole  of  the  foot  with  a hot  iron 
“to  let  the  fever  out,”  the  cauterization  of  the  chest 
or  abdomen  with  hot  irons  and  flesh-destroying  caus- 
tics for  the  relief  of  digestive  disturbance  or  internal 
pain.  To  the  supposedly  bewitched  in  Africa  it  means 
being  cut  to  pieces  and  cast  to  the  wild  animals  or 
fishes,  being  buried  alive  or  staked  out  to  be  eaten  by 
ants  or  wild  animals.  To  the  insane  and  incurable  in 
China  it  often  means  tethering  to  a dog  kennel,  or  to 
be  driven  from  home  or  left  to  die  in  a graveyard.  In 
the  late  war  in  China,  army  doctors  were  found  treat- 
ing wounds  according  to  the  time  of  day  inflicted 
rather  than  according  to  the  instrument  or  location  of 
infliction.  Even  liquid  mercury  was  poured  into 
wounds  to  dissolve  bullets.  To  the  old  and  decrepit 
in  India  it  frequently  means  poisoning,  often  starving 
to  death. 


The  Medical  Mission. 


1 6 


.Added  to  all  this,  in  China,  and  similarly  in  other 
countries,  the  materia  ftiedica  consists  of  snake  skins, 
tigers’  claws,  dragons’  teeth,  wasps’  stings,  centipedes, 
scorpions,  horned  toads,  beetles,  serpents’  eggs,  boiled 
spiders,  or  perchance  the  broth  of  human  flesh.  A 
knowledge  of  therapeutics  based  on  prevalent  credul- 
ity or  natural  gullibility,  of  anatomy  founded  largely 
on  pure  imagination  and  grossest  ignorance,  of  phys- 
iology derived  from  hereditary  notions  or  mythical 
conceptions — such  is  the  knowledge  that  makes  the 
doctor.  Even  in  the  most  enlightened  of  eastern 
lands,  as  in  China  and  India,  the  “ native  doctors,”  so 
called,  have  no  real  knowledge  of  the  foundation 
sciences  of  medicine ; they  know  practically  nothing 
of  anatomy,  physiology  and  pathology.  The  use  of 
the  microscope,  one  of  the  most  important  instruments 
of  modern  physical  science,  is  entirely  unknown. 
Inherited  religious  beliefs  and  hoary  prejudices  prevent 
a minute  or  detailed  investigation  of  disease  and  its 
causes.  Their  theories  regarding  the  nature  of  dis- 
eases are  not  only  unscientific  but  often  on  the  face  of 
them  utterly  crude  and  ridiculous.  Their  practice,  if 
not  in  itself  a means  of  torture,  is  at  the  best  the 
crudest  empiricism. 

Such  is  still  the  portion  of  well-nigh  countless 
millions  of  our  race,  for  the  relief  of  whose  .suffering 
there  are  no  physicians,  except  such  as  exist  in  the 
form  of  devilish  witch  doctors,  ignorant  quacks, 
superstitious  priests,  deluding  wizards,  crafty  conjur- 


Need  for  Medical  Missions.  17 

ers,  roaming  forfune-tellers,  wily  astrologers,  and  a 
host  of  other  degraded  and  superstitious  individuals 
who,  in  the  name  of  medicine  and  religion,  profess  to 
cure  disease. 

While  throughout  heathen  and  Mohammedan  lands 
i these  “habitations  of  cruelty”  still  obtain,  is  it  not  a 
fact  that  in  professedly  Christian  lands  faculties  of 
medical  schools  enter  into  dignified  competition  for 
! students,  and  hospital  boards  for  patients,  and  often 
; in  large  cities  to  the  detriment  of  both  the  medical 
profession  and  patients?  It  is  also  freely  acknowl- 
i edged  that  in  America  there  are  already  three  times 
; as  many  physicians  and  twice  as  many  medical  schools 
J as  there  is  need  for.  Grist  after  grist  of  doctors — 
more  than  5,000  a year — are  turned  loose  on  this 
country  where  the  majority  stay  either  to  eke  out  an 
existence  or  practice  because  the  vocation  is  pecun- 
more  iarily  profitable  or  socially  more  congenial 
than  other  callings. 

And  is  it  not  also  true  that  in  some  of  our  magnifi- 
cent hospitals  the  wounds  (>f  the  relatively  few  are  not 
only  scientifically  treated,  but  in  addition  elegantly 
dressed  “ to  secure  primary  healing,”  while  the 
unwashed,  untouched  sores  of  the  untold  multitude  in 
heathen  lands  are  left  to  suppurate,  to  mortify,  and  to 
kill?  New  York  City  alone  has  ten  thousand  hospital 
beds,  costing  upward  of  a million  dollars  a year — 
more  beds  and  more  money  for  the  sick  among  two 
millions,  than  are  used  and  spent  for  the  relief  of  the 
2 


i8 


The  Medical  Mission. 


sick  by  all  the  medical  missions  that  exist  among  a 
thousand  millions  of  heathen  and  Mohammedans. 

Surely  the  need  for  medical  missions  is  crying 
enough,  the  appeal  pathetic  enough,  the  urgency  of 
the  situation  intense  enough ; and  is  there  not  in  our 
hands  strength  enough  to  furnish  the  means,  and  in 
our  medical  schools  students  enough  to  furnish  the 
men,  that  these  “ murdered  millions  ” may  find  relief 
and  learn  of  better  things  ? Oh,  should  not  our 
humanity,  as  well  as  our  Christianity,  impel  us — we 
who  may  and  ought  to  go — to  go,  and  with  one 
mighty  effort  of  body,  soul  and  mind,  help  roll 
away  this  load  of  sorrow  and  cheer  this  ocean  of  suf- 
fering arising  out  of  heathenism  and  coming  up  to  us 
with  its  mute,  but  agonizing  cry  for  help  and  pity? 
In  the  name  of  Him  who  had  “ compassion  on  the  mul- 
titude,” and  in  response  to  him  who  asks  “ who  will 
go  for  us,  and  whom  shall  we  send,”  shall  not  our 
individual  and  heart-deep  response  be  : “ Here  am  I ; 
send  me?” 


CHAPTER  III. 


SOME  OF  THE  FIELDS. 

China.  In  point  of  population  and  lack  of  properly 
educated  physicians,  China  probably  presents  the  most 
needy  and  extensive  of  all  the  fields  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  medical  missions.  This  stupendous  empire, 
with  a population  numbering  nearly  400,000,000,  is 
practically  dependent  upon  a handful  of  probably  less 
than  150  American  and  European,  and  as  many  more 
educated  native  physicians.  Quacks  there  are  with- 
out number,  but  China  knows  little  of  scientific  medi- 
cine and  surgery,  save  as  it  is  exhibited  in  the  mission 
hospitals  and  dispensaries. 

Says  Dr.  J.  G.  Kerr  of  Canton,  for  thirty  years  a 
medical  missionary  to  China : “ The  properties  of 
medicines  are  in  great  measure  unknown.  Wonderful 
virtues  are  attributed  to  inert  substances,  such  as 
dragons’  teeth,  fossil  bones  of  tigers,  petrified  crabs, 
pearls,  stalactites,  deer’s  horns,  and  many  other  things, 
some  of  which  are  disgusting  and  offensive.  The 
real  virtues  of  active  medicines  are  not  fully  under- 
stood, and  in  so  far  as  they  are  known  their  admin- 
istration is  not  guided  by  any  rational  principle.  The 

19 


20 


The  Medical  Mission. 


exercise  of  chemistry  is  unknown,  and  the  physicians 
are,  therefore,  without  the  basis  of  knowledge,  not  only 
in  regard  to  the  active  ingredients  of  medicines,  but 
of  the  constituents  of  the  human  body,  of  its  secre- 
tions in  health,  and  of  the  products  of  disease.” 

'Fhe  practice  of  surgery  among  barbarous  or  semi- 
civilized  peoples  is  altogether  wanting,  or  is  of  the 
most  rude  and  primitive  kind.  Even  among  a jieople 
like  the  Chinese,  celebrated  for  their  literary  culture 
or  mechanical  skill,  and  having  a medical  profession 
large  in  numbers,  not  a few  of  whom  have  attained  a 
high  reputation,  operative  surgery  is  unknown.  Since 
they  are  without  anatomical  knowledge  no  one  will 
venture  to  use  a cutting  instrument,  lest  death  from 
bleeding,  which  they  do  not  know  how  to  control, 
should  result. 

All  the  numerous  diseases  and  injuries  which  are 
capable  of  being  remedied  by  the  dangerous  art  are 
eiiher  maltreated  or  left  to  run  their  course,  a 
long  train  of  evils  being  the  result.  Fortune-tellers 
and  idols  are  consulted  in  almost  all  cases  of  sickness. 
Disease  is  attributed  to  the  visitation  of  evil  spirits  or 
the  anger  of  the  gods.  To  ward  off  one,  and  pacify 
the  other,  amulets  are  in  general  use.  Idolatrous 
worship  in  the  sick  room  is  often  attended  with  the 
deafening  noise  of  gongs  and  the  explosion  of  fire 
crackers  to  expel  “ evil  spirits.”  The  case  of  an  old 
lady  near  Peking  who  had  bricks  piled  on  her  broken 
leg  for  six  months  to  cure  it  and  keep  down  the  swelling, 


Some  of  the  Fields. 


21 


illustrates  the  ignorance  and  cruelty  of  the  treatment 
commonly  practiced  in  China. 

Dr.  Ashmore  describes  the  teaching  of  anatomy  by 
the  Chinese,  in  substance,  as  follows : A wooden 
statue  of  a man  is  constructed,  into  which  are  bored  a 
number  of  holes ; a curtain  is  thrown  over  the  figure 
and  the  student  is  taught  to  thrust  the  needle  through 
the  curtain  into  certain  holes  on  the  statue.  There 
are  supposed  to  be  certain  locations  represented  by 
the  holes  which,  if  punctured,  will  allow  the  exit  of 
the  evil  spirit  supposed  to  be  the  cause  of  the  disease. 

The  heart’s  mouth  is  believed  to  be  a favorable 
locality  for  the  “ seat  of  disease,”  the  brain  is  imagined 
to  be  in  the  stomach,  and  the  “ seat  of  courage  ” is 
the  liver.  The  bladder  is  supposed  to  communicate 
with  the  mouth  by  a long  tube,  through  which  liquids 
force  their  way.  The  “ hole  in  the  heart  ” is  believed 
to  have  a mysterious  connection  with  the  stomach, 
and  to  this  orifice  is  ascribed  pains  of  indigestion 
from  rapid  eating,  etc. 

China  alone  could  immediately  fill  the  hands  of 
200,000  capable  practitioners,  and  all  that  is  true  of 
China  proper  is,  with  modification  and  variation,  true 
of  all  the  Chinese  dependencies, — Korea,  Mongolia, 
Thibet,  and  Hainan  ; also  of  certain  portions  of  Japan, 
particularly  the  new  dependency,  Formosa. 

The  following,  from  a printed  letter  of  Dr.  Rosetta 
S.  Hall  of  Korea,  illustrates  the  cruel  features  of  the 
treatment  of  the  sick,  practiced  in  that  country : 


22 


The  Medical  Mission. 


“ I was  called  one  day  to  the  house  of  one  of  the 
higher  class  to  see  a child  who  had  become  very  sick 
two  or  three  days  before,  after  being  carried  a long 
distance,  strapped  to  the  back  of  his  nurse,  as  is  their 
custom,  with  his  bare  head  and  the  nape  of  his  neck 
exposed  to  the  fierce  heat  oi  a July  sun.  I found  the 
child  in  convulsions,  and  after  a careful  examination, 
I told  the  father  I feared  that  there  was  little,  if  any, 
hope  of  recovery.  Both  father  and  mother  bowed 
before  me  and  begged  to  ‘ give  life,’  as  they  express 
it  here.  I told  them  only  God  could  do  that,  but  we 
would  do  all  that  we  could,  and  I left  them  medicine 
and  the  necessary  directions,  promising  to  return  in 
the  morning. 

“ Now  this  child  was  the  only  son  of  these  people, 
and  their  love  for  him  was  just  as  strong  as  that  of 
fond  American  parents.  Like  Americans,  they  wanted 
to  leave  nothing  undone  that  could  be  done  for  their 
darling.  After  examining  the  little  boy  I told  the 
father  that  he  was  dying  : I could  do  no  more  for 

him ; that  God  was  surely  going  to  take  him  very 
soon  to  his  heavenly  home.  Then  the  father  bade 
the  Korean  doctor  to  again  try  his  skill.  The  first 
thing  this  doctor  did  was  to  make  a little  pyramid  of 
a brownish-looking  powder  upon  each  breast  of  the 
child  and  then  to  set  it  afire.  As  it  began  to  burn 
the  tender  skin  I begged  the  father  to  have  it  re- 
moved, and  I said  to  the  doctor,  ‘ You  know  it  can 
do  no  good,’  but  he  only  calmly  smiled  as  he  obeyed 


Some  of  the  Fields. 


23 


the  now  almost  frantic  father’s  command  to  go  on 
with  his  treatment.  He  then  took  out  from  its  sheath 
a needle,  half-way  between  a darning  needle  and  a 
surgeon’s  probe,  in  appearance,  and  this  he  proceeded 
to  stick  through  each  foot,  the  palms  of  the  hands, 
the  thumb  joints,  and  through  the  lips  into  the  jaw, 
just  below  the  nose.  Again  I tried  to  make  him  stop, 
but  he  said  it  was  ‘ Korean  custom.’  I replied,  ‘ It 
is  a very  bad  custom,’  and  that,  though  in  this  case  it 
would  result  in  no  further  harm,  as  the  child  was  dying, 
yet  it  was  exceedingly  cruel.  In  cases  of  recovery 
from  disease,  inflammation  of  these  punctured  joints  is 
j sure  to  follow,  and  often  suppuration  with  death  of 
i the  bones  so  that  amputation  of  the  foot  and  hand 
is  the  only  radical  cure.  Many  such  cases  have  come 
to  me  at  the  hospital.” 

In  India  we  can  boast  of  a civil  service  under  Great 
Britain  probably  second  to  none  in  the  world,  and 
under  England’s  beneficent  rule  there  has  been  de- 
veloped a medical  service  probably  unequaled  in  ef- 
ficency  by  any  in  the  East.  It  is  nevertheless  au- 
thentically stated  by  Sir  William  Moore,  for  years  the 
surgeon-general  of  India,  that  the  present  system  of 
medical  aid  in  India,  elaborate  and  expensive  as  that 
system  is,  does  not  reach  five  per  cent,  of  the  people. 
In  the  Bengal  Presidency  with  a population  of  two 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  persons  to  a square  mile  (in 
the  United  States  there  are  about  twenty-three)  only 
one-fifteenth  of  the  people  live  within  five  miles  of  a 


24 


The  Medical  Mission. 


dispensary,  and  there  is  only  one  dispensary  to  every 
270,000  of  the  people.  In  the  large  cities  where  the 
greater  part  of  the  medical  work  is  maintained  under 
the  government, — as  for  instance  Calcutta, — statistics 
show  that  over  one-half  of  the  people  die  unattended 
in  sickness  either  by  a professional  doctor  or  by  native 
quack.  In  the  whole  country  where  disease  is  gen- 
erally much  more  prevalent,  more  sudden  in  its  onset, 
and  more  fatal  in  its  results  than  in  western  lands,  the 
sanitary  conditions  are  also  such  that  if  an  attempt 
were  made  to  construct  sanitary  works  on  the  basis  of 
England’s  system,  it  would  cost  annually  moie  than 
the  present  entire  revenue  of  the  country.  Clearly, 
then,  medical  assistance  is  more  urgently  needed  than 
in  America  ; yet,  including  educated  physicians,  native 
and  foreign,  India  has  one  doctor  to  about  300,000 
people,  while  in  the  United  States  there  is  one  to  every 
625  of  the  population. 

The  incurable  in  India  themselves  form  a large 
population.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  between 
300,000,  and  500,000  lepers  who  roam  the  country 
far  and  wide,  and  for  whose  and  the  country’s  welfare 
there  is  no  attempt  at  segregation  and  comparatively 
little  at  treatment.  There  are  458,000  blind,  the 
large  majority  of  whom  are  blind  from  childhood  and 
mostly  either  because  of  ignorance  on  their  own  part, 
or  that  of  their  parents,  because  of  malpractice  at 
the  hands  of  the  ignorant  quacks,  or  because  of  their 
residence  in  remote  districts  and  consequent  inability 


Some  of  the  Fields. 


25 


to  secure  competent  aid  from  intelligent  practitioners. 
There  are  191,000  deaf  and  dumb,  76,000  insane, 
and  a host  of  other  cripples  and  unfortunates  for  whom 
modern  medicine  and  surgery  can  do  little  now,  but 
whose  diseases  might  have  been  largely  prevented 
had  medical  aid  been  available  at  the  proper  time. 
Even  now  but  a fraction  of  this  disabled  multitude 
have  had  the  benefit  of  institutions  so  common  among 
us  for  the  care  and  relief  of  such  persons. 

Quackery,  malpractice,  superstition  and  caste  are 
yearly  responsible  for  the  painful  distortion  of  thou- 
sands of  limbs,  for  the  irreparable  loss  of  thousands 
of  eyes,  for  the  deplorable,  and  culpable  destruction 
of  hundreds  of  lives,  and  for  the  untold  agonies  of 
multitudes  who  perchance  recover,  in  spite  of,  rather 
than  by  the  aid  of,  the  barbarous  native  treatment. 
The  doctor  who  bases  his  therapeutics  on  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  pulse  in  disease  has  either  wind,  water  or 
phlegm  in  it,  and  applies  a hot  iron  for  the  relief  of 
the  most  trivial  complaints,  manifestly  is  both  basely 
ignorant  and  intensely  cruel,  yet  this  only  illustrates 
the  knowledge  and  skill  of  the  average  quack  upon 
whom  the  masses  in  India  are  still  dependent  for 
medical  aid,  if  indeed  they  are  not,  in  addition,  obliged 
to  run  the  entire  gauntlet  of  the  idol,  priest,  conjurer  and 
astrologer  in  quest  of  relief  from  painful  disease.  But 
what  of  those  who,  without  either  quack  or  intelligent 
medical  assistance,  yearly  depart  this  life  in  India? 
In  1892,  750,000  were  estimated  to  have  died  from 


26 


The  Medical  Mission. 


cholera  and  4,500,000  of  fever.  A Dominion  of 
Canada  blotted  out  of  existence  by  these  two  diseases 
alone  in  a single  year,  not  to  speak  of  the  tens  of 
thousands  who  fall  victims  to  smallpox  and  the  vari- 
ous intestinal  diseases  so  prevalent  in  the  land  ! 
Surely  this  appalling  mortality  calls  for  additional  help 
in  the  work  of  medical  missions. 

The  death  rate  among  the  British  soldiers  in  India 
was  reduced  from  sixty-nine  per  mille  in  1857  to 
fifteen  per  mille  in  1882.  A death  rate  among  the 
natives  reduced  from  fifty  to  twenty  per  mille  would 
mean  the  saving  of  8,600,000  lives  a year  and  prob- 
ably 5,000,000  cases  of  avoidable  illness.  Oh,  what 
an  opportunity  for  the  sanitary  expert,  what  a task 
for  the  bacteriologist,  the  pathologist  and  the  fever 
specialist ; what  an  opportunity  for  the  Church  of 
God  to  save  these  precious  lives,  to  redeem  these  per- 
ishing souls  ! An  opportunity  which  brings  to  the 
medical  profession  tremendous  possibilities  and  to  the 
Church  of  God  stupendous  responsibilities. 

The  British  Government  has  established  in  India 
over  2,000  hospitals  and  dispensaries;  it  has  estab- 
lished several  medical  schools  for  the  education  of 
native  physicians  and  a number  of  lesser  schools  for 
the  training  of  hospital  assistants  and  nurses.  In 
addition  the  medical  missionaries,  men  and  women 
numbering  about  130,  have  under  their  charge  some 
160  medical  institutions.  But  what  are  all  these 
combined  among  the  sick  of  India’s  287,000,000? 


Some  of  the  Fields. 


27 


Chicago  alone  possesses  more  hospital  beds  than  there 
are  for  the  use  of  the  natives  in  the  whole  of  India. 

The  Government  conducts  its  medical  work  chiefly 
in  the  large  cities,  and  cantonment  centers,  but  the 
mass  of  the  people  live  in  villages  remote  from  these 
medical  centers  and  hence,  cannot,  if  they  would,  secure 
competent  medical  assistance.*  The  villages  are  the 
strongholds  of  disease  for  which  the  people  have  no  re- 
lief. They  are,  moreover,  the  hotbeds  of  vice  and  of  su- 
perstition. It  is  there  that  ignorance  is  both  dense  and 
degrading.  It  is  in  these  well-nigh  countless  villages 
that  the  medical  mission  in  India  is  most  demanded. 

The  women  of  India  call  for  thousands  of  conse- 
crated women  physicians.  There  are  tens  of  thousands 
of  sufferers  confined  in  the  harems  and  zenanas  of 
India  who  can  only  be  treated  by  women  physicians. 
This  means  that  there  are  millions,  who,  if  they  are  to 
hear  the  gospel  message,  must  hear  it,  humanly  speak- 
ing, from  the  lips  and  through  the  work  of  women  medi- 
cal missionaries. 

On  the  basis  of  England’s  supply,  India’s  needs 
call  for  an  addition  of  190,000  physicians,  and  even 
this  would  not  be  half  the  rate  of  America’s  supply. 
Are  not  these  facts  the  “Anger  of  God”  that  points 
out  the  way  of  duty  for  hundreds  of  us  still  unsettled 
as  to  a field  of  largest  labor  ? 

* India  has  566,000  villages  with  a population  of  less  than 
500  each.  42  per  cent,  of  the  people  live  in  villages  of  less 
than  too  each. 


28 


The  Medical  Mission. 


Africa.  The  medical  mission  in  portions  of  the 
“ Dark  Continent  ” has  been  less  satisfactory  from  a 
medical  standpoint  than  in  some  of  the  other  great 
mission  fields,  nevertheless,  it  forms  an  integral  part 
of  missionary  operations  all  over  the  land.  Africa,  to 
Europeans,  presents  the  most  trying  of  all  climates,  it 
is  the  most  disastrous  to  life  of  all  mission  fields. 
With  the  exception  of  parts  of  Egypt  and  South 
Africa,  it  were  a wise  rule  that  would  limit  the  num- 
ber who  go  as  missionaries  to  those  who  themselves 
have  a knowledge  of  medicine,  or  who  could  go  ac- 
comjranied  by  a physician.  The  success  of  missions 
in  Africa,  from  a human  standpoint,  probably  depends 
more  largely  upon  the  inherent  ability  of  the  mission- 
ary to  resist  the  inroads  of  African  fever  than  on  any 
other  physical  qualification. 

Owing  partly  to  a better  knowledge  of  the  climate 
on  the  part  of  the  missionary  himself,  and  owing 
largely  to  the  accumulated  experience  of  medical 
missionaries  and  other  explorers  who  have  arduously 
labored  to  secure  professional  knowledge  of  the  death- 
dealing districts  in  many  parts  of  East,  AVest  and 
Central  Africa,  mission  work  is  now  carried  on  at  less 
risk  and  loss  of  life  than  it  once  was.  And  if  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  care  for  the  health  of  the  mis- 
sionary families,  and  by  his  presence  to  make  things 
endurable,  the  medical  missionary  in  Africa  is  indis- 
pensable. 

Medical  work  for  the  natives,  though  apparently 


y' 


Some  of  the  Fields. 


29 


unattended  in  general  with  the  physical  results 
achieved  in  other  fields,  because  of  the  greater  preva- 
lence of  superstition  and  the  greater  density  of  igno- 
rance, is,  despite  these  obstacles,  fraught  with  gratifying 
consequences.  A considerable  number  of  hospitals 
and  dispensaries  have  been  established  and  excellent 
physical  as  well  as  spiritual  results  have  followed.  The 
work  is  received  with  growing  intelligence,  and  is 
yearly  becoming  appreciated  more  and  more,  for  its 
own  sake. 

The  horrible  depravity,  the  frightful  cruelty  and  the 
appalling  ignorance  of  the  people  with  regard  to  the 
causation  and  cure  of  disease,  only  serve  to  intensify 
rather  than  to  limit  the  loudness  of  the  appeal  which 
the  “open  sores”  of  the  Dark  Continent  so  strenu- 
ously and  pathetically  present.  This  great  continent, 
with  an  area  equal  to  North  America  and  Europe 
combined,  and  until  a few  years  ago  largely  marked  on 
our  maps  as  “ unexplored  ” and  “ sandy  desert,”  is 
found  to  be  teeming  with  a population  of  two  and  a 
half  times  that  of  the  United  States,  and  to  be  su-rging 
all  over  with  disease  of  every  kind.  During  a day’s 
visit  to  Port  Said,  Tlgypt,  I saw  scarcely  a native 
whose  eyes  did  not  present  ophthalmia  in  some  form  or 
stage.  If  this  is  the  condition  in  a city  where  medi- 
cal assistance  is  easily  available,  what  must  it  be 
where  disease  abounds  and  no  physician  exists? 

African  “ medicine  men  ” are,  all  over  the  land,  a 
curse  rather  than  a blessing  to  the  people.  They  in- 


3° 


The  Medical  Mission. 


crease  rather  than  diminish  suffering.  All  pain  and 
sickness  is  looked  upon  as  a judgment  from  God,  and 
the  most  highly-valued  remedies  are  charms.  “ All 
they  know  of  medicine  is  associated  with  pain.  A 
wound  is  plugged  with  rags  or  leaves.  Fevers  are 
treated  with  indifference.  Rheumatic  pains  receive 
the  heroic  treatment  of  hot  irons  thrust  into  the 
affected  parts.  Fractures  are  allowed  to  unite 
without  help,  or  are  handled  freely  instead  of  being 
kept  at  rest.  Teeth,  if  extracted  at  all,  are 
pulled  out  in  such  a manner  as  to  cause  tears 
to  flow  and  draw  forth  cries  of  intense  pain. 
Tumors  are  freely  punctured  with  sharp  sticks. 
Everything  must  hurt  to  do  good.  The  medicine 
man  is  an  object  of  dread  and  fear,  carrying  around 
in  his  ‘ bag  ’ all  manner  of  instruments  of  torture, 
and  ‘ medicines  ’ having  the  ugliest  and  bitterest  prop- 
erties possible  to  obtain.” 

In  the  midst  of  this  great  continent  a few  score 
of  physicians,  government  and  missionary  (less 
than  seventy-five  of  them  medical  missionaries),  are 
laboring,  overwhelmed  by  the  cruelty  and  staggered 
by  the  ravages  of  disease  all  about  them.  They  are 
faithfully  fighting  sickness  and  death  but,  alas, 
with  what  tremendous  odds  ! A hundred  thousand 
physicians  would  not  be  half  sufficient  to  stem  the 
tide  of  pestilence  and  plague  that  is  constantly  sweep- 
ing over  the  land.  The  call  from  .Mrica  is  imperative, 
pathetic,  strenuous.  Language  fails  to  furnish  terms 


Some  of  the  Fields. 


31 


with  which  to  describe  the  fearful  suffering,  the  ap- 
palling wretchedness  that  everywhere  abounds  as  the 
result  of  cruelty  and  depravity.  Ethiopia  mutely 
stretches  forth  her  hands  toward  the  west  for  medical 
help.  Fain  would  she  “ stretch  out  her  hands  unto 
! God  ” but  she  knows  him  not.  Fettered  by  the 
darkest  superstition,  and  enslaved  by  inconceivable 
ignorance  and  the  most  atrocious  cruelty,  she  is  still 
I without  the  light  of  the  Cross  and  the  knowledge  of 
Him  who  was  called  from  her  own  borders  and  died  to 
! redeem  the  souls  of  her  dusky  children.  Heroes  have 
bled  and  died  for  Africa  that  they  might  plant  in  her  the 
seed  of  the  gospel.  Multitudes  are  still  needed  who 
shall  live  and  labor  to  reap  the  harvest  now  preparing  by 
i the  Lord  of  the  harvest  himself.  Who  will  bear  to 
Darkest  Africa  the  banner  of  the  cross  and  physical 
I relief  ? 

South  America.  From  a purely  missionary  stand- 
point, South  America  is  one  of  the  very  needy  fields 
of  the  world.  This  immense  continent  right  at  our 
very  door  with  38,000,000  of  people  within  an  area  of 
7,000,000  square  miles — nearly  twice  the  size  of  Europe 
— has  within  its  priest-ridden  borders  millions  of 
souls  as  destitute  of  saving  Christianity  as  the  darkest 
pagans  in  Asia. 

“ South  America,  divided  into  fourteen  countries, 
includes  people  of  nearly  every  race  and  language, 
including  the  degraded  Fuegians  of  Cape  Horn,  who 
when  discovered  had  drifted  so  from  old  traditions 


32 


The  Medical  Mission. 


that  they  retained  no  word  for  God.  The  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  element  is  politically  dominant,  while 
the  red  men  constitute  the  main  stock  of  the  popula- 
tion. Her  cities  are  among  the  gayest  and  grossest 
in  the  world.  South  '.America  groans  under  the 
tyranny  of  a priesthood  which  in  its  highest  forms  is 
unillumined  by,  and  is  incompetent  to  preach,  the 
gospel  of  God’s  free  gift,  and  in  its  lowest  is  proverb- 
ially and  habitually  drunken,  extortionate  and  ignorant.’’ 

In  a land  where  Roman  Catholicism  is  so  terribly  in- 
tolerant of  other  faiths  and  so  tyrannical,  especially  with 
regard  to  a pure  Protestantism,  the  task  of  disarming 
prejudice  and  of  securing  desirable  approach  is  ob- 
viously a most  difficult  one.  Hence  the  medical 
mission  is  of  peculiar  value  among  such  people. 

In  most  of  the  .South  .American  republics  there  are 
native  practitioners,  who,  though  comparatively  large 
as  regards  numbers,  are  poor  as  regards  efficiency. 
In  some  of  the  republics,  medical  laws  require  an 
indigenous  degree  or  the  passing  of  state  examinations 
in  order  to  practice.  In  other  parts  of  the  land 
practically  no  restrictions  to  physicians  with  a North 
.American  degree  exist.  Chiefly  among  the  aborigi- 
nal tribes  in  the  remote  districts  are  medical  missions 
most  needed  and  desirable,  but  even  in  the  great 
cities  they  would  certainly  become  a potent  influence 
for  good.  In  South  .America,  perhaps  more  than  in 
any  other  field,  the  feasibility  of  self-supporting 
medical  missions  obtains.  Here  is  a country  exhibiting 


Some  of  the  Fields. 


33 


fields  and  opportunities  for  Christian  medical  work, 
and  possessing  a variation  of  scenery  and  climate  that 
leaves  few  without  excuse,  who,  on  the  ground  of  tem- 
perament, constitution  or  circumstances  maybe  prov- 
identially hindered  from  undertaking  work  in  a more 
remote  and  trying  climate. 

South  America  is  indeed  the  “ Neglected  Conti- 
nent.” She  is  morally  soaked  in  sin,  she  is  physically 
rotting  with  disease.  While  her  ignorant  millions  are 
either  surfeited  with  superstition  or  held  in  the  abject 
thraldom  of  death-dealing  depravity,  with  suffering 
enough  in  this  life  and  practically  no  hope  for  the  life  to 
come,  with  the  notorious  overcrowding  of  physicians 
in  the  North  Continent  and  in  view  of  the  needs  and 
obligations  of  the  South  Continent,  might  not  the  for- 
mer spare  a regiment  or  two  of  her  Christian  physicians 
for  this  field  of  spiritual  desolation  and  physical  cor- 
ruption ? Thus  we  might  happily  interpret  the 
“ Monroe  Doctrine”  and  obey  the  higher  doctrine  of 
loving  our  neighbors  as  ourselves. 

“In  Persia,”  says  the  Rev.  S.  G.  Wilson,  “the  old 
medical  practice  is  very  deficient.  At  its  best  it  is 
unscientific,  but  mixed  with  superstition  it  is  still 
worse.  The  conjurer  and  the  astrologer  are  the  com- 
panion of  the  physician.  The  Vendidad  of  Ancient 
Persia  says : ‘ If  several  healers  offer  themselves, 
namely,  one  who  heals  with  a knife,  one  who  heals 
with  herbs,  and  one  who  heals  with  the  holy  word,  it 
is  the  latter  who  will  best  drive  away  sickness  from 


34 


The  Medical  Mission. 


the  body  of  the  faithful.’  The  astrologer  consults  the 
stars  as  to  the  favorable  time  for  calling  the  doctor 
and  which  one  shall  be  called,  and  whether  the  medi- 
cine he  has  given  shall  be  taken.” 

In  Arabia  the  situation  is,  if  anything,  more  appal- 
ling than  in  Persia.  Few  countries  are  in  greater  need 
of  medical  missions  than  these  two  great  adjacent 
Mohammedan  kingdoms  of  Persia  and  Arabia,and 
in  few  countries  have  medical  missions  proved  more 
valuable  in  preparing  the  way  for,  and  commending  the 
work  of,  Christian  missions. 

The  following  incident  told  by  Dr.  Jessie  Wilson  of 
Hamadan,  Persia,  illustrates  the  deplorable  superstition 
among  the  people  and  the  consequent  difficulties  in 
prosecuting  medical  work  : “ A poor  woman  was 

brought  to  the  dispensary.  Her  father  came  in  carry- 
ing her  on  his  back  from  the  other  side  of  the  city, 
her  mother  also  accompanied  her.  She  was  so  ill  that 
she  could  not  hold  up  her  head.  I told  her  mother 
that  there  was  no  hope  of  her  recovery  and  that  they 
must  take  her  home  at  once,  but  that  I would  giv'e 
her  a little  medicine  and  would  come  to  see  her  in 
the  evening.  When  I went  in  the  evening  to  her 
poor  home  I asked  how  she  was  and  they  said  : ‘ Praise 
God  she  is  better.’  By  the  way,  they  always  use  this 
expression  even  though  death  be  at  the  door. 
Imagine  my  disgust  to  find  she  had  not  touched  my 
medicine  because  of  the  old,  old  excuse  that  is  ever 
newly  brought  forth— that  is,  ‘ some  one  sneezed  and 


I 

f 

I 

f 

t 


‘c 

h 

r 

! « 
B 

E 

;ai 

I 

th 


a: 

o: 

E' 

D: 

Et 

I- 

to 

t 

h 

I.: 


Sc. 


Some  of  the  Fields. 


35 


we  did  not  dare  to  give  the  medicine.’  Instead  of 
giving  my  medicine  they  had  got  half  a bushel  of 
manure  (if  you  will  excuse  me  for  saying  it)  and  had 
warmed  that  and  wrapped  the  poor  hot  head  and  fore- 
head in  that,  only  leaving  the  face  exposed.  She  was 
indeed  a sight  to  behold.” 

Medical  missions  have  been  abundantly  blessed  of 
God  in  Persia.  Missionary  physicians  have  been 
honored  by  appointment  to  the  position  of  “ private 
physician  ” to  the  highest  officials,  and  through  their 
work  the  gospel  seed  has  been  sown  far  and  near. 
But  for  the  medical  missionary,  residence  by  other 
missionaries  in  Persia  would  be  largely  impracticable 
and  their  work  far  less  tolerable  than  it  is.  Mission- 
aries and  official  dignitaries  are  alike  dependent  upon 
the  Christian  physician  for  intelligent  medical  assist- 
ance. 

Arabia’s  8,000,000  inhabitants  are  practically  with- 
out competent  medical  aid,  save  as  it  is  furnished  by 
medical  missionaries.  The  following,  from  the  pen  of 
Dr.  Wyckoff,  of  Bahrein,  tersely  describes  the  need  in 
the  dark  land  of  Ishmael : “ In  proportion  to  the 

need  for  medical  assistance  is  its  power  for  good. 
There  is  great  suffering  in  Arabia,  and  no  native  skill 
to  relieve  it.  The  so-called  medical  treatment  by  the 
natives  is  cruel  in  the  extreme.  Burning  holes  in  the 
body  to  let  the  disease  out,  branding  sick  children 
with  red-hot  bars,  chopping  off  wounded  limbs  and 
sealing  them  with  boiling  tar,  are  only  an  illustration 


36 


The  Medical  Mission. 


of  their  methods.  They  go  blind  in  the  fierce  glare 
of  a tropical  sun,  when  simple  eyewater  would  save 
their  sight.  The  medical  missionary  therefore  is  a 
messenger  from  God.  People  will  travel  great  dis- 
tances to  meet  him  and  he  is  thronged  with  patients. 
Relieved  or  cured  they  return  with  a gospel  message 
and  a portion  of  Scripture,  thus  in  a small  sense 
becoming  missionaries  themselves,  and  preparing  in 
the  desert  a highway  for  our  God,  where  as  yet  no 
Christian  missionary  can  go.” 

A small  hospital  under  the  British  at  Aden  and 
another  under  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the 
medical  mission  of  the  American  Dutch  Reformed 
at  Bahrein — the  physicians  not  numbering  more 
than  half  a dozen  for  the  whole  land — furnish  prac- 
tically all  the  medical  aid  Arabia  receives.  Medical 
missionaries  to  work  as  pioneers  are  especially  in 
demand  in  this  long  sadly  neglected  land  of  the  Arab. 
Eight  to  ten  millions  of  people  in  Arabia  are  practi- 
cally without  educated  physicians,  save  those  just 
mentioned.  What  is  true  of  these  two  countries  is 
true,  but  in  a less  degree,  of  many  parts  of  Turkey, 
yet  the  need  is  intense  enough  in  any  part,  especially 
in  Armenia. 

Si.AM  .-VNO  Laos  are  countries  in  which  the  medical 
mission  has  formed  a very  large  and  important  part 
of  mission  work.  Here,  some  six  millions  of  people 
are  substantially  dependent  upon  the  medical  mission- 
aries of  the  American  Presbyterian  Board  for  intel- 


Some  of  the  Fields. 


37 


ligent  medical  assistance.  “The  Siamese  believe  the 
human  body  is  composed  of  two  classes  of  elements, 
visible  and  invisible.  The  bones,  flesh,  blood,  etc., 
belong  to  the  former,  wind  and  fire  to  the  latter. 
The  external  elements  acting  on  the  bodily  elements 
cause  health  or  disease,  as  dropsy,  caused  by  too  much 
water  being  absorbed  into  the  body  during  the  wet 
season.  To  cure  lockjaw,  the  prescription  runs  ; Por- 
tions of  the  jaws  of  a wild  hog,  a tame  hog  and  a goat, 
of  a goose  bone,  peacock  bones,  tail  of  a fish  and  head 
of  a venomous  snake.” 

And  what  of  lands  yet  unoccupied?  Indo- 
Chinese  countries,  Afghanistan,  Beluchistan,  Nepal, 
Thibet,  with  a combined  population  of  more  than  ten 
millions,  all  await  the  advent  of  the  educated  phy- 
sician. The  Malay  Archipelago  with  an  estimated 
population  of  27,000,000  is  practically  destitute  of 
medical  aid,  save  as  it  is  administered  by  a handful 
of  less  than  a score  of  trained  doctors.  Some  1050 
islands  of  the  Pacific  with  a combined  population 
estimated  at  9,000,000  are  still  without  the  Christian 
missionary  and  Christian  physician.  “ The  field  is 
the  world.”  Turn  where  we  will,  go  where  we  may,  in 
heathen  lands  the  fact  immediately  confronts  us,  the 
appealing,  the  appalling  fact  of  a harvest  enormously 
plenteous,  and  of  laborers  desperately  few. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


FUNCTION  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

The  function  of  the  medical  mission  is  primarily 
physical;  it  is,  however,  supremely  spiritual.  It  is 
primarily  physical,  because  m the  majority  of  the  cases 
which  it  is  designed  to  help,  the  physical  needs  are 
immediate  ones,  and  what  is  to  be  done  must  be  done 
quickly.  Besides,  it  is  the  door  of  approach  and  often 
the  most  “ effectual  door  ” to  the  greater  and  eternal 
needs  of  the  patient.  How  often  Christ  himself  won 
entrance  to  the  hearts  of  sin-sick  souls  by  healing 
their  bodies.  “ Himself  took  our  infirmities,  and 
bare  our  sicknesses”  (Matt.  8:17).  He  himself 
was  “ touched  with'  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities,”  but 
the  same  Saviour  declared  : “ What  is  a man  profited, 
if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own 
soul?”  (Matt.  16:26).  The  heart,  softened  by 
disease,  is  often  the  most  impressionable  to  the  stamp 
of  God’s  redeeming  love.  The  relief  of  suffering  is 
the  duty  first  at  hand,  but  the  saving  of  the  soul  is 
paramount  and  supreme,  and  though  the  former  may 
take  temporary  precedence  of  the  latter  in  order  of 
accomplishment,  it  is  nevertheless  tributary.  More- 

38 


Function  of  Medical  Missions.  39 

over,  we  do  not  always  know  whether  it  is  the  will  of 
God  that  the  patient  should  recover,  and  our  efforts 
to  relieve  sickness  may  altogether,  or  in  part,  fail,  but 
we  have  constantly  the  assurance  that  God  willeth  not 
the  death  of  any  soul.  “That  ye  may  know  that  the 
Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins,  (then 
saith  he  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy,)  Arise,  take  up  thy 
bed,  and  go  into  thine  house  ” (Matt.  9:6).  Jesus 
thus  emphasized  the  importance  of  his  sin-forgiving 
mission,  while  the  healing  miracle  exhibited  his  sym- 
pathy for  the  sick,  and  proved  also  his  power  on  earth 
to  forgive  sins.  He  brought  in  a full  salvation  and 
“ restored  wholeness  to  the  entire  man.”  “ First  a 
missionary  and  secondly  a physician,”  is  a rule  which 
indicates  the  relative  importance  of  the  “teaching” 
and  “healing”  work  of  the  missionary  physician. 

The  one  feature  that  distinguishes  the  medical 
mission  from  that  of  the  ordinary  state  institution  is 
that  it  combines  in  itself  “ the  double  cure,” — healing 
for  soul  as  well  as  body.  On  the  basis  of  pure 
humanitarianism,  this  mission  is  clearly  worthy  of 
the  heartiest  support  of  the  Christian  Church,  as 
as  well  as  that  of  the  State,  but  if  merely  physical 
results  constitute  the  sole  aim  of  a medical  mis- 
sion it  remains  no  longer  a missionary,  but  becomes 
a secular,  institution.  It  is  rather  “omissionary” 
than  missionary.  The  best  physical  results,  however, 
are  always  to  be  striven  for,  since  it  is  often  by  securing 
to  the  patient  the  largest  physical  blessing  that  we  can 


40 


The  Medical  Mission. 


most  deepen  the  spiritual  impressions  which  we  seek 
to  make  on  him  for  his  own  good  in  particular,  and 
for  the  good  of  the  mission  work  in  general. 

Medical  missions  have  secured  to  tens  of  thousands 
of  sufferers  in  heathen  lands  relief  which,  apart  from 
the  work  of  the  missionary  physicians,  would  never 
have  been  enjoyed  ; but  the  most  lasting  re.sults  of 
this  work  are  spiritual.  Yet,  if  for  no  other  reason, 
the  purely  physical  relief  afforded  to  the  sick  in 
heathen  lands  through  medical  missions,  even  if 
unaccompanied  by  spiritual  results,  is  in  itself  sufficient 
to  commend  them  to  the  support  of  Christians  and 
philanthropists  everywhere. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

All  told,  there  are  now  approximately  four  hundred 
and  fifty  medical  missionaries,  men  and  women,  in 
all  lands.  Since  comparatively  few  medical  mission- 
aries have  published  separate  and  detailed  reports  of 
the  work  done  under  their  charge,  it  is  difficult  to 
estimate  the  actual  good  accomplished  by  them  in 
their  individual  fields.  Sufficient,  however,  has  been 
published  to  show  that  the  work  has  been  fraught 
with  abundant  success  and  blessing.  Not  only  have 
tens  of  thousands  of  lives  been  saved,  and  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  persons  burdened  with  disease  com- 
pletely, or  in  part,  relieved,  but  foundations  have  been 
i and  are  being  laid  by  medical  missionaries  in  heathen 
countries  upon  which  medical  institutions  are  being 
built  up  and  organizations  established  for  the  wide- 
spread and  systematic  relief  and  prevention  of  disease. 
I And  all  this  has  been  accomplished  in  countries  where, 
I until  the  coming  of  the  medical  missionary,  the  com- 
I monest  surgical  and  medical  measures  known  to  us 
for  the  cure  of  disease  were  entirely  unknown. 

The  medical  missionary  is  sometimes  the  first  mis- 

41 


42 


The  Medical  Mission. 


sionary  an  generally  the  first  physician  in  the  field 
he  occupies.  His  work,  though  often  for  a time 
obscure,  is  always  the  harbinger  of  fruitful  harvest 
in  the  cure  of  sickness,  the  precursor  of  permanent 
and  widespread  blessing  to  multitudes  of  helpless  and 
destitute  sufferers. 

It  has  been  said  that  missionaries  going  to  foreign 
countries  “ bury  themselves  in  the  darkest  heathen- 
ism.” Said  an  English  official  to  the  writer  in  India, 
after  having  observed  the  large  numbers  of  patients 
treated  surgically  and  medically  in  our  Miraj  hospital : 

“ Sir,  it  seems  to  me  that  you  are  burying  your  talents 
beneath  a bushel.  Would  you  not  find  a larger  scope 
for  your  skill  among  the  more  intelligent  and  appreci- 
ative people  of  your  own  land?  ” My  reply  was,  that 
I was  not  only  content,  but  happy  to  labor  as  a pioneer  i 
in  my  own  department,  and  rejoiced  in  being  made  a I 
blessing  to  those  whom  I knew  to  be  utterly  destitute  i 
of  reliable  assistance,  apart  from  the  relief  which  our  J 
hospital  afforded.  I 

But  the  work  of  the  medical  missionary  does  not  I 
remain  forever  “ beneath  a bushel.”  Even  in  this  life  t 
the  compensation  of  such  service  brings  a hundredfold  I 
reward.  Not  a few  have  been  rewarded  with  the  n 
highest  professional  positions  under  foreign  govern-  '| 
ments,  and  some  have  received  imperial  decorations  -iij 
for  their  skill  and  devotion  in  caring  for  the  sick  in 
times  of  pestilence.  Many,  too,  having  endeared 
themselves  to  the  people,  have  gone  to  their  reward. 


Achievements  of  Medical  Missions.  43 

leaving  names  to  be  held  in  everlasting  remembrance 
and  filial  reverence. 

In  India,  prior  to  the  occupation  by  Christian 
England  and  the  advent  of  Christian  physicians,  the 
public  dispensary  was  entirely  unknown.  They  had 
infirmaries  for  the  relief  of  aged  and  infirm  cows,  but 
as  for  the  charitable  treatment  of  their  own  diseased 
and  destitute  inhabitants  they  cared  nothing.  And 
even  now  in  India,  notwithstanding  the  large  and 
efficient  medical  service  conducted  under  the  British, 
large  districts  containing  millions  of  people  are  solely 
dependent  upon  mission  hospitals  and  missionary 
physicians  for  medical  and  surgical  relief.  In  a single 
mission  — The  Kashmir  Medical  Mission — last  year 
there  were  treated  12,900  new  out-patients,  984  in- 
patients, and  2,589  operations  were  performed. 
Another,  The  Travancor  Medical  Mission,  operates 
fourteen  different  medical  stations. 

Medical  women  are  the  only  ones  who  are  permitted 
to  enter  the  harems  and  zenanas  of  millions  of  the 
women,  and  almost  all  of  the  medical  women  in  India 
are  missionaries,  the  majority  of  whom  have  been  sent 
j from  America.  There  are  tens  of  thousands  of  sick 
women  in  the  central  and  northern  portions  of  the 
empire  who  would  rather  die  than  have  a male 
physician  attend  them  in  sickness  and  childbirth,  but 
they  welcome  our  medical  women,  who  are  annually 
relieving  thousands  of  sick  in  their  homes  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  them  in  their  dispensaries  and  hospitals. 


44 


The  Medical  Mission. 


In  China  the  medical  missionaries  were  the  first  to 
establish  widespread  and  systematic  work  for  the 
relief  of  tha  sick.  They  are  still  practically  the  only 
physicians  laboring  to  educate  native  physicians 
and  to  establish  upon  a scientific  basis  the  work  of 
intelligently  treating  the  sick.  Said  United  States 
Minister  Denby  in  his  official  dispatch  of  INfarch  22, 
1895,  to  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Washington:  “I 
think  that  no  one  can  controvert  the  patent  fact  that 
the  Chinese  are  enormously  benefited  by  the  labor  of 
missionaries  in  their  midst.  Foreign  hospitals  are  a 
great  boon  to  the  sick.  China,  before  the  advent  of 
the  foreigner,  did  not  know  what  surgery  was.  There 
are  more  than  twenty  charitable  hospitals  in  China, 
which  are  presided  over  by  men  of  as  great  ability  as 
can  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  Dr.  Kerr’s 
hospital  at  Canton  is  one  of  the  greatest  institutions  of 
the  kind  in  the  world.  The  Viceroy  Li  Hung  Chang 
has  for  years  maintained  at  Tientsin,  at  his  own 
expense,  a foreign  hospital.” 

Dr.  Kerr’s  hospital,  to  which  Minister  Denby  refers, 
was  established  in  1835  by  Dr.  Peter  Parker,  a medi- 
cal missionary,  and  was  the  first  foreign  hospital  | 
in  China.  Dr.  Kerr,  the  physician  in  charge,  during  ; 
his  thirty  years  of  service,  has  by  himself  or  under  I 
his  supervision,  treated  over  700,000  patients  and  |f 
performed  some  40,000  operations  1300  of  which 
were  for  cystic  calculi.  In  addition  he  has  trans- 
lated thirty  medical  books  into  Chinese  and,  aided  by  | 


Achievements  of  Medical  Missions. 


45 


his  assistants,  trained  a hundred  native  doctors.  Similar 
work  of  educating  the  natives  in  medicine  and  nursing 
is  carried  on  under  Dr.  Duncan  Main  of  Amoy  and  also 
in  other  mission  hospitals  in  various  parts  of  China. 

In  Japan,  the  need  of  medical  missionaries  has  in 
most  parts  of  the  island  ceased  to  exist ; still  it  was 
largely  from  the  missionary  physicians  that  the  cue  of 
medical  work  was  taken  and  medicine  as  a science 
began  to  be  studied. 

The  first  foreign  hospital  in  Korea  was , established 
by,  and  is  still  in  charge  of,  a medical  missionary 
under  the  Korean  government. 

The  first  and  only  hospitals  in  the  islands  of  For- 
mosa and  Hainan  were  established  under  missionary 
societies  and  are  still  the  only  hospitals  in  operation 
in  those  lands. 

Siam  owes  all  the  skilled  medical  practitioners 
whom  she  possesses  to  the  pioneering  labors  of  medi- 
cal missionaries.  The  king’s  hospital  at  Bangkok  is 
now  in  charge  of  Dr.  Hays,  a former  medical  mission- 
ary. All  the  medical  work  in  Laos  and  practically  all 
carried  on  in  Siam,  outside  of  Bangkok,  is  conducted 
by  the  medical  missionaries  who  treat  thousands  of 
patients  annually.  Three  hospitals  and  six  dispensa- 
ries are  operated  by  the  American  Presbyterians.  A 
Siamese  nobleman,  who  had  once  received  a Gospel  in 
Siamese  came  to  a Laos  missionary  and,  asking  to  be 
healed  said,  “ Christ  healed  men  and  you  preach 
Christ.” 


46 


The  Medical  Mission. 


In  Africa  the  medical  missionaries  are  in  most  dis- 
tricts the  pioneer  and  only  competent  physicians  who 
labor  for  the  relief  of  the  sick  natives. 

In  the  island  of  Madagascar  the  only  medical  work 
is  conducted  by  the  medical  missionaries  and  those 
trained  under  their  care.  At  the  capital  a large  mis- 
sion hospital  and  a medical  academy  are  conducted 
under  the  charge  of  four  medical  missionaries. 
Already  a number  of  efficient  practitioners  have  been 
trained.  They  enjoy  large  practices  among  their  own 
people. 

In  Beirut,  Syria,  is  the  principal  medical  college 
and  hospital  of  Asia  Minor,  The  Johanniter  Hospital 
College,  and  it  is  in  charge  of  Protestant  Christians 
and  missionaries.  More  than  a hundred  men  trained 
in  this  medical  college  are  now  engaged  in  missionary 
work,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  they  annually  treat  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  the  sick. 

In  Persia  the  American  Presbyterians  conduct  three 
hospitals  and  ten  dispensaries  treating  thousands  of 
cases  annually. 

Indeed  in  the  whole  of  the  Turkish  empire  and 
Persia,  the  medical  institutions,  private  and  govern- 
mental, which  they  now  possess,  were  established 
largely,  if  not  entirely,  as  a result  of  missionary  exam- 
ple in  caring  for  the  sick. 

'I'hus  it  is  in  some  of  the  Pacific  islands  and  in 
other  fields  from  which  meager,  or  no  reports  have 
been  published. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


I INFLUENCE  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

Probably  no  other  agency  has  been  so  fruitful  in 
i disarming  anti-foreign  prejudice,  in  breaking  down 
caste  barriers,  and,  in  general,  in  preparing  the  way  for 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel  as  the  medical  mission. 
The  medical  missionary  has  often  been  able  to  pene- 
trate the  out-of-the-way  places,  places  where  religious 
opposition  has  been  most  severe  and  race  barriers 
most  formidable,  districts  where  the  severity  of  the 
climate  has  made  it  unsafe  for  any  but  the  medical 
missionary  to  enter.  With  his  healing  mission  as  his 
defense  and  the  word  of  God  as  his  weapon,  the  med- 
^ ical  missionary  has  been  able  to  safely  traverse  tracts 
‘ of  country  never  before  trod  by  Christian  feet.  In 
districts  once  visited,  his  return  is  eagerly  looked  for. 
And  in  the  train  of  his  pioneering  labors  other  forms 
of  mission  work,  besides  his  own,  have  been  duly 
inaugurated.  For  his  sake  other  missionaries  are  not 
only  tolerated  but  frequently  welcomed.  The  physi- 
, clan’s  presence  has  not  only  saved  the  precious  lives 
I of  other  missionaries,  but  has  often  made  the  contin- 
I uance  of  a station  possible,  when,  otherwise,  abandon- 
ment would  have  been  inevitable. 


47 


48 


The  Medical  Mission. 


Government  officials  and  dignitaries  have  been  II 
reached  with  the  gospel  message  by  the  missionary  I 
physician  when  by  others  they  were  unapproachable.  U 
Thousands  of  homes,  harems  and  zenanas  closed  1 
against  the  clerical  missionary  have  been  open  to  the 
Christian  physician,  and  their  occupants,  for  the  first  J 
time,  have  heard  the  gospel  message  from  the  lij)s  of 
the  person  who  was  himself  or  herself  a physician. 

During  the  writer’s  experience  of  six  years  in  India, 
it  was  his  privilege  to  make  over  seven  hundred  visits 
to  people  in  their  homes.  Many  of  these  were  the 
dwellings  of  secluded  women,  native  chiefs,  and  high 
caste  Brahmins, — most  of  them  homes  into  which  the 
mere  fact  of  being  a physician  made  entrance  possi- 
ble, and  not  a few  of  the  natives  who  at  first  were  dis- 
posed to  obstruct  our  work,  and  some  of  those  who 
actually  did  attempt  to  frustrate  our  plans,  are  now 
among  our  best  native  friends. 

Mission  stations,  too,  have  repeatedly  resulted  from  1 
the  preliminary  labors  of  the  medical  missionar)^  | 
Officials  have  been  appeased  and  won  over  as  friends  J 
to  the  mission  cause,  building  sites  and  buildings  have  || 
been  secured,  often  as  gifts  from  alien  governments.  I 
Mission  stations  have  sometimes  been  established  by  1 
medical  missionaries  at  the  invitation,  and  by  the 
assistance  and  cooperation,  of  heathen  states.  Miraj,  it 
our  own  station,  is  a single  instance  of  this.  Soon 
after  our  arrival  we  were  publicly  invited  to  begin 
our  medical  work  where  for  several  years  official  in- 


Influence  of  Medical  Missions.  49 

fluence  had  prevented  the  establishment  of  a mission 
station.  Stations  thus  opened  in  due  course  inspire, 
side  by  side  with  the  hospital  and  disjiensary,  other 
forms  of  missionary  effort. 

It  is,  moreover,  a fact  that  not  only  have  individ- 
uals been  approached,  homes  entered,  stations  occu- 
pied and  districts  prepared  by  the  medical  mission- 
ary, which  apparently  could  not  have  been  effected  by 
any  other  class  of  workers,  but  whole  countries  have 
been  opened  up  to  the  gospel  by  the  elemental  labors 
of  missionary  physicians. 

It  has  been  said  that  “ China  was  opened  to  the 
gospel  at  the  point  of  the  lancet  ” by  Dr.  Peter  Parker. 
Dr.  Allen,  an  American  medical  missionary,  was  the 
first  Protestant  foreigner  to  reside  permanently  in 
Korea.  He  was  ultimately  put  in  charge  of  a hos- 
pital built  for  him  by  the  king  of  Korea,  and  later  he 
was  also  one  of  a Korean  embassy  to  the  United 
States  Government  at  Washington. 

Formosa  was  opened  up  largely  by  the  work  of 
medical  missionaries.  Dr.  G.  L.  Mackay  of  the  Can- 
adian Presbyterian  Mission  was  the  first  missionary  to 
North  Formosa,  and  the  first  to  build  a hospital  there. 
At  first  he  had  almost  to  compel  his  patients  to  come 
to  him.  During  fourteen  years  of  service  he  extracted 
21,000  teeth  in  his  hospital  and  on  tours,  and  by  this 
simple  operation  he  has  won  his  way  to  the  hearts  of 
thousands  of  people. 

Siam  is  another  illustration  of  a country  opened  up 
4 


1 


50  The  Medical  Mission. 

to  mission  work  largely  through  the  influence  of  the 
missionary  physicians,  Drs.  Gutzlaff,  Bradley,  and 
House  who  were  the  pioneer  missionaries. 

In  India  states  and  districts  have  been  prepared 
for  the  gospel  mission  by  its  own  handmaid,  the 
medical  mission.  It  is  an  old  but  a little  known  story 
which  relates  that  when  in  the  year  1636  a princess 
in  the  family  of  the  Great  Mogul  had  been  dread- 
fully burned,  a message  was  sent  to  seek  the  help  of 
the  English  surgeon  at  Surat.  Dr.  Gabriel  Broughton 
was  sent,  healed  the  princess,  and  in  return  was  asked 
by  the  emperor  to  state  what  he  desired  for  himself. 
“ Let  my  nation  trade  with  your  nation,”  was  the 
reply,  and  the  establishment  of  the  East  India 
Company’s  power  on  the  Coromandel  coast  was  the 
result. 

In  Japan,  during  the  inception  of  missionary  work, 
fields  outside  of  the  open  ports  were  opened  and  held 
by  the  establishment  of  dispensaries  by  medical  mis- 
sionaries. At  the  centers  where  it  was  carried  on  it 
broke  down  the  prejudices  and  opposition  of  religious 
teaching  and  “ opened  the  way  for  general  evangelical 
work.” 

Similarly  in  the  Turkish  empire,  Persia,  .Arabia, 
and  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  great 
Dark  Continent  of  Africa  have  medical  missionaries 
been  used  of  God  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  com- 
ing of  his  kingdom. 

The  establishment  of  missions  has  not  been  the  only 


Influence  of  Medical  Missions.  51 

result  of  the  medical  missionary’s  pioneering  labors. 
Commerce  with  western  and  civilized  nations,  amount- 
ing now  to  millions  of  dollars  annually,  is  another  of 
the  significant  results. 


CHAFI’ER  VII. 


SPIRITUAL  FRUIT. 

Among  the  immense  numbers  of  patients  annually 
treated  in  mission  hospitals  and  dispensaries  the  num- 
ber of  baptisms  resulting  immediately  from  the  work 
is,  as  a matter  of  fact,  relatively  small.  This,  how- 
ever, is  not  surprising  in  view  of  past  history  and 
present  conditions.  The  history  of  our  Saviour’s 
ministry  of  mercy  repeats  itself  in  similar  work  con- 
ducted in  his  name  to-day.  To  the  multitude  who 
had  been  fed  by  his  miraculous  expansion  of  the  five 
loaves  and  two  fishes,  he  said,  “Ye  seek  me,  not 
because  ye  saw  the  miracles,  but  because  ye  did  eat  of 
the  loaves,  and  were  filled”  (John.  6:26).  There 
are  always  those  who  care  for  nothing  but  the  loaves 
and  fishes,  and  some  who  have  not  learned  to  be 
thankful  even  for  these.  But  the  majority  are  mani- 
festly grateful  for  the  jrhysical  good  done  them,  and 
many  give  earnest  heed  to  the  word  spoken  for  their 
spiritual  good.  The  fact  should  not  be  overlooked 
that  the  majority  who  are  the  recipients  of  medical 
treatment  are  themselves  profoundly  ignorant,  their 
consciences  are  seared,  their  perceptions  are  blasted 

52 


Spiritual  Fruit. 


53 


and  their  spiritual  apathy  is  intense ; hence  the  fact 
of  their  physical  need  appearing  to  them  the  more 
pressing,  since  it  is  the  more  tangible,  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at. 

The  majority  of  those  who  are  brought  to  the  dis- 
pensary by  the  diseases  which  they  seek  to  have 
relieved  by  coming,  hear  for  the  first  time  the  voice 
of  God  saying,  “ Repent,  and  believe  the  gospel,” 
“ Repent,  and  be  converted.”  It  is  often  in 
' the  dispensary  or  the  hospital  that  they  hear  for 

' the  first  time  the  fact  that  there  is  a gospel,  a sal- 

vation, and  a Saviour.  It  is  there  that  they  learn,  as 
I never  before,  that  repentance  in  order  to  salvation  is 
! necessary.  It  is  there  they  hear  that  “ God  so  loved 
the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  eternal  life  ” (John  3:16). 

I In  the  light  of  experience  in  Christian  lands  with  an 
I inherited  Christian  environment, — where  moral  influ- 
ence and  national  sentiment  are  on  the  side  of  gospel 
obedience,  and  where,  though  hearing  the  gospel  pro- 
claimed scores  and  hundreds  of  times,  multitudes  still 
reject  it, — it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that  among 
heathen  nations,  where  national  and  family  sentiment, 
the  influence  of  pagan  systems,  Satanic  idolatry,  and 
grossest  superstition  are  all  rigidly  opposed  to  Christ- 
ian thought  and  light,  large  numbers  of  people  upon 
a single  or  manifold  presentation  of  the  gospel  do 
not  publicly  accept  its  teaching,  even  when  accom- 


54  The  Medical  Mission. 

panied  by  bodily  blessing.  “ Many  are  called,  but 
few  are  chosen”  (Matt.  22:14).  It  >s  ours  to  do 
faithfully  the  calling ; God  alone  can  do  the  choosing  ; 
and  in  this  respect  the  hospital  and  dispensary  are 
abundantly  fruitful  as  they  accomplish  the  fulfillment 
of  Christ’s  command  to  “ witness  among  all  nations.” 

But  supposing  medical  missions  were  actually 
devoid  of  real  spiritual  results,  the  example,  teaching, 
and  spirit  of  Jesus  himself  would  all  impel  us  to  acts 
of  mercy  made  necessary  by  the  tremendous  physical 
needs  of  peoples  among  whom  missionary  work  is  pre- 
sented. Medical  missions,  however,  are  by  no  means 
wanting  in  actual  spiritual  results.  Patients  are 
frequently  converted  and  baptized  as  the  result  of 
hearing  the  gospel  in  the  dispensary,  or  of  residence 
in  the  hospital.  Many  go  back  to  their  homes,  often 
many  miles  distant,  and  carry  with  them  the  glad  news 
of  salvation  which  they  themselves  have  received,  and 
often  ere  they  accept  it  themselves  they  tell  it  to  others. 

The  physician  in  charge  of  the  hospital  in  the 
London  Mission  at  Amoy,  China,  reports  that  hundreds 
of  villages  are  yearly  represented  by  the  patients.  As 
the  result  of  the  conversion  of  one  man,  a hospital 
patient,  seven  Christian  congregations  were  formed. 
The  English  Presbyterians  at  Swatow  some  years  ago 
reported  that  of  their  twenty  country  stations  then  in 
existence,  seven  or  eight  had  their  origin  in  hospital 
patients  who  had  been  converted  while  receiving 
treatment. 


Spiritual  Fruit. 


55 


Dr.  Mackay  of  Formosa  reports  that  from  the  visit 
of  one  man  to  the  hospital  four  congregations  of 
Christians,  with  a membership  of  three  hundred  and 
fifty  and  double  that  number  of  adherents,  were 
established. 

Between  three  and  four  hundred  different  villages, 
many  of  them  fifty  to  one  hundred  miles  and  more 
distant,  are  annually  represented  by  the  patients  who 
come  for  treatment  to  the  writer’s  hospital  at  Miraj, 
Western  India.  They  all  alike  hear  the  gospel  and 
carry  back  gospel  tracts  and  gospel  portions  to  their 
village  homes.  Our  tracts  given  to  the  patients  have 
gone  to  scores  of  villages  seldom,  if  ever,  visited  by  a 
missionary  or  native  Christian.  There  are  Christian 
churches  and  schools  in  almost  every  land  where 
medical  missions  have  been  prosecuted,  the  establish- 
ment of  which  is  either  directly  or  indirectly  traceable 
to  the  work  of  healing  the  sick  by  missionaries. 

Said  Dr.  Peter  Parker  of  Canton,  China  : “ I have 
no  hesitation  in  expressing  it  as  my  solemn  conviction 
that  as  yet  no  medium  of  contact  and  of  bringing  the 
people  under  the  sound  of  the  gospel  and  within  the 
influence  of  other  means  of  grace  can  compare  with 
the  facilities  afforded  by  medical  missionary  opera- 
tions.” 

It  is  not  the  sick  alone  who  are  benefited  by  the 
medical  mission.  It  is  quite  common  for  patients  to 
attend  the  dispensary  or  reside  in  the  hospital  in 
company  with  one  or  more  attending  friends.  These 


56 


The  Medical  Mission. 


persons  are  also  brought  under  the  influence  of  I 
Christian  teaching  and  they,  too,  are  additionally  I 
influenced  by  the  object  lesson  which  the  Christian  I 
treatment  of  their  friend  exhibits.  I 

Among  the  millions  of  ignorant  and  degraded 
heathen  and  Mohammedan  inhabitants  of  eastern 
lands  who  not  only  have  never  been  taught  the  sinful- 
ness of  sin  and  the  need  of  divine  forgiveness  through 
the  atonement  of  a Saviour,  but  who  for  many  cen- 
turies have  taken  continual  pleasure  in  their  deeds  of 
darkness  while  they  make  God  himself  responsible  for 
their  wickedness,  the  missionary  finds  the  task  of  I 
expounding  abstract  Christianity  a mdst  difficult  one. 

But  by  following  the  footsteps  of  Him  who  continually  , 
went  about  doing  good,  he  can  commend  the  gospel 
of  mercy  by  deeds  of  mercy ; he  is  able  not  only  to  I 
make  clear  his  teaching,  but  he  can  win  entrance  to  I 
hearts  otherwise  hermetically  sealed  against  himself  | 
and  his  teaching. 

In  India,  and  similarly  elsewhere,  with  the  grossest 
idolatry  everywhere  rampant,  the  average  ignorant 
and  degraded  heathen  knows  little  of  God,  save  as  he 
is  illustrated  in  the  piece  of  clay,  wood,  or  metal 
which  represents  God’s  supposed  incarnation.  To  a 
people  so  intensely  ignorant  and  depraved  it  is  the 
concrete,  tangible  and  practical  Christianity  that 
appeals  to  them  most  strongly  and  teaches  them  most 
effectively.  It  is  the  common  experience  of  all  mis- 
sionaries to  meet  people  who  regard  themselves  so 


Spiritual  Fruit. 


57 


ignorant  as  to  be  incapable  of  understanding  the 
simplest  Christian  truth ; yet  such  persons  will  seldom 
fail  to  learn  the  object  lesson  which  the  caring  for 
the  sick  itself  imparts.  In  other  words,  they  can 
apprehend  by  the  sense  of  vision  what  they  are 
unable  to  take  in  by  the  sense  of  hearing.  Persons 
having  no  personal  interest  in  mission  hospitals  see  in 
the  work  itself  proof  of  the  divine  character  of 
Christianity,  and  are  thereby  drawn  to  the  Christian 
services.  Indeed,  there  are  few  forms  of  mission 
work  that  are  not  directly  benefited  by  the  organiza- 
tion of  a medical  mission.  Thus  it  is  that  the  medi- 
cal mission  everywhere  stands  for  the  spiritual  blessing 
as  well  as  for  the , physical  good  of  the  people  for 
whose  sake  it  is  conducted. 

Of  course,  it  is  in  the  hospital  where  the  Christian 
instruction  given  can  be  graded  and  systematized  that 
the  spiritual  fruits  of  mission  work  are  most  apparent 
and  enduring.  The  greatest  utility  of  the  out-door 
dispensary  is  the  means  it  furnishes  of  reaching  the 
largest  number  of  persons.  But  either  in  hospital  or 
dispensary,  who  can  estimate  the  immense  value  of 
the  bread  so  widely  cast  upon  the  waters? 


CHAPTER  VIII, 


VALUE  TO  MISSIONARIES. 

Not  least  important  in  the  ministry  of  physicians 
is  the  place  they  fill  in  caring  for  the  physical  wants 
of  sick  missionaries  on  the  field.  In  the  interior  of 
most  foreign  lands,  the  only  medical  aid  available  is 
that  rendered  by  the  missionary  doctor.  Excepting 
in  the  principal  seaports  of  China,  Africa  and  Turkey, 
in  tire  large  cities  and  cantonment  centers  of  India 
and  in  a few  corresponding  places  in  other  lands,  the 
only  skilled  physicians  at  hand  are  those  possessed  by 
the  missions  themselves.  It  is  a matter  that  calls  for 
gratitude  to  God  that  the  lives  of  the  missionaries — 
the  most  valuable  commodity  of  a mission — have  fre- 
quently been  saved,  their  health  preserved  and  sickness 
avoided,  by  the  timely  attendance  and  advice  of  the 
resident  missionary  physician.  It  is  a matter  to  be 
regretted,  that,  not  infrequently,  devoted  and  earnest 
missionaries  eager  to  preach  the  gospel  in  new  and 
remote  districts,  have  prematurely  sacrificed  their 
life,  or  permanently  injured  their  health  for  the  cause, 
when  with  a knowledge  of  medicine  on  their  own  part, 
or  the  help  of  a competent  physician,  they  might 

58 


Value  to  Missionaries. 


59 


have  saved  them  to  the  greater  good  and  enlarge- 
ment of  the  work  that  they  sought  to  establish.  Not 
infrequently  have  missionaries  been  obliged  to  per- 
manently retire  from  the  field,  owing  to  acts  of  in- 
discretion and  ignorance  in  the  care  of  their  own 
body  which  the  presence  and  advice  of  the  medical 
missionary  might  have  prevented.  The  value  of  a 
physician’s  presence  in  a mission  is  manifested  most 
during  his  temporary’ or  prolonged  absence  from  his 
field  of  labor.  Such  absence,  when  not  provided  for 
by  a substitute,  has  often  led  to  the  crippling  of  both 
workers  and  work.  Missionaries,  in  these  circum- 
stances, have  frequently  been  obliged  to  cease  work 
and  leave  their  fields,  often  permanently,  and  at  great 
expense,  when  the  presence  of  a physician  in  the  dis- 
trict might  have  prevented  such  a calamity. 

Governments  in  organizing  military  expeditions  are 
careful  to  provide  that  competent  nredical  officers  are 
commissioned  to  accompany  them.  The  life  of  him 
whose  mission  it  is  to  save  life,  should  be  at  least 
equally  valuable  with  his  whose  work  may  compel  him 
to  take  life.  There  is  not  a large  tea  plantation  in 
India  that  has  not  its  own  physician.  Some  of  our 
missionary  societies  would  do  well  to  imitate  the  ex- 
ample of  both  government  and  private  corporations 
prosecuting  their  work  in  foreign  countries.  It  is  not 
that  missionaries  should  be  unwilling  to  go  where  there 
are  no  resident  physicians,  but  where  medical  attend- 
ance for  the  natives  is  also  a necessity,  the  work  for 


6o 


The  Medical  Mission. 


both  people  and  missionaries  can  always  be  satisfac- 
torily and  profitably  combined.  In  some  lands,  as  in 
certain  parts  of  Africa,  if  it  were  only  to  care  for  mis- 
sionaries, a sufficient  number  of  medical  men  should 
be  appointed  so  as  to  place  one  within  easy  reach  of 
every  worker. 

Says  one  : “ Imagine  yourself  a missionary  at  one  of 
our  mission  stations  without  a physician.  A mother, 
a missionary,  in  one  such  place  in  Western  Asia,  found 
her  two  little  children  ill ; one  died.  She  then  took 
the  other  and  journeyed  six  days  to  the  nearest  doc- 
tor. ‘ Too  late,’  he  said.  She  turned  and  journeyed 
back.  The  second  day  that  child  also  died,  the  rest  of 
the  way  she  traveled  with  her  dead  child  in  her  arms.” 

Christ  sent  forth  his  disciples  in  twos.  Would  not 
that  be  a happy  combination  that  would  provide  for  a 
medical  missionary  to  accompany  every  clerical  mis- 
sionary in  every  station,  where  outside  medical  aid  is 
not  readily  available  ? 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SUPPORT  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

j Can  a medical  missionary  secure  his  personal  sup- 
port on  the  field?  Can  the  work  of  a medical  mis- 
sionary be  self-supporting,  and  if  so,  to  what  extent  ? 
j These  are  questions  often  asked,  but  less  often  satis- 
factorily answered.  This  is  owing  primarily  to  the 
different  conditions  existing  in  different  fields,  and 
owing,  secondly,  to  the  diversity  of  method  and  prin- 
ciple observed  by  different  missionaries  and  mission- 
ary societies.  Obviously  to  reply  to  these  questions 
in  detail  would  occupy  more  space  than  the  purpose 
of  this  book  can  allow.  It  will,  therefore,  be  deemed 
sufficient  if  what  seems  to  be  generally  conceded  by 
those  of  largest  experience  and  whose  opportunities’ 
for  observation  have  been  widest,  is  stated. 

It  is  affirmed  by  some,  who  have  never  themselves 
been  on  the  field,  that  all  a medical  missionary  re- 
quires in  order  to  successful  work  and  complete  self- 
support  is  missionary  devotion,  a medical  education, 
expenses  to  the  field  and  financial  provision  while 
studying  the  language.  In  controversion  of  this  state- 
ment it  may  be  confidently  affirmed  that,  with  the 

6i 


62 


The  Medical  Mission. 


exception  of  those  who  ma)'  be  supported  in  whole  or 
part  l)y  native  governments  in  lieu  of  service  rendered 
to  the  State,  there  are  few,  if  indeed  any,  who  can  be 
said  to  receive  their  entire  personal  support  independ- 
ent of  either  personal  income  or  the  allowance  provided 
for  them  by  missionary  societies  or  individuals  at 
home.  In  Mexico  and  South  America  where  the 
average  income  of  the  inhabitants  approximates  that 
of  our  own  country,  personal  self-support  of  the  medi- 
cal missionary  is  apparently  more  feasible.  But  in 
lands  throughout  the  East,  where  the  average  wage 
does  not  exceed  a few  cents  a day  per  family,  it  is 
clear  that  the  people  after  defraying  necessary  living 
expenses  can  have  little  left  to  pay  even  what  a 
Western  physician  would  regard  as  the  merest  nominal 
fee.  If  it  were  the  rule  to  charge  for  medical  con- 
sultation, a few  cents  a visit  is  the  most  that  the 
minority  would  be  able  to  provide,  while  the  vast  ma- 
jority would  be  unable  to  pay  anything.  This  fact  in 
itself  is  sufficient  to  emphasize  the  need  of  charitably 
caring  for  the  sick  poor  in  heathen  lands  as  we  do  in 
our  large  cities  at  home. 

There  is,  however,  in  all  lands  a varying  percent- 
age of  well-to-do  persons  who  among  their  own  people 
are  regarded  as  wealthy  and  who,  when  calling  the 
missionary  physician  to  attend  their  sick,  are  com- 
petent to  pay  liberally  for  his  sen  ice.  From  this 
class  the  medical  missionary  may  deriv’e  considerable 
support,  but  of  course  even  this  will  vary  according 


Support  of  Medical  Missions.  63 

to  the  number  of  such  persons  living  in  his  district. 
Yet  among  the  wealthy,  especially  if  they  are  officials, 
it  is  not  always  desirable  to  demand  a fee,  since 
prestige  may  be  of  greater  value  than  money  where 
the  general  interests  of  the  work  as  a whole  are  con- 
sidered. 

The  writer  received  from  the  above  class  almost 
the  whole  of  the  fees  secured  and  needed  for  the 
maintenance  of  this  work.  In  most  cases  a definite 
fee  was  asked  according  to  the  known  or  supposed 
ability  of  the  patient.  With  regard  to  high  officials 
the  amount  was  left  to  their  own  generosity,  and 
they,  knowing  our  custom  of  receiving  fees  from  those 
having  ability  to  pay  for  service,  in  most  cases  re- 
sponded with  more  liberal  sums  than  we  ourselves 
would  have  demanded.  From  others,  again,  nothing 
was  received,  but  their  good  will  and  patronage 
were  always  considered  of  greater  value  than  their 
fee. 

Medical  missionaries  resident  in  the  large  interior 
cities  are  more  likely  to  receive  the  patronage  of  the 
rich  than  those  residing  in  the  villages  and  small 
towns,  inasmuch  as  the  majority  of  the  wealthiest 
classes  reside  in  the  larger  places.  But  under  the 
most  favorable  of  circumstances,  complete  personal 
support,  with  the  few  exceptions  already  indicated, 
has  not  hitherto  been  realized  and  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  the  number  of  those  having  ability  to  pay 
a fee  is  but  a fraction  of  the  great  multitudes  of  the 


64 


The  Medical  Mission. 


poor  and  impecunious  who  will  throng  the  medical 
missionary  for  treatment. 

Assuming,  however,  that  it  were  possible  to  secure 
from  the  patronage  of  the  richer  classes  the  complete 
self-support  desired,  this  itself  would,  by  reason  of 
the  special  attention  such  patients  demand  in  waiting 
upon  them  in  their  homes,  largely  defeat  the  main 
object  of  the  medical  mission,  which  is  to  reach  the 
masses  rather  than  the  wealthy.  Christ  had  compas- 
sion on  and  healed  the  multitudes,  and  to  the  multi- 
tudes we  are  sent.  It  is  only  as  we  reach  the  masses 
through  our  hospitals  and  dispensaries  that  we  can 
accomplish  the  most  in  hastening  the  coming  of  his 
kingdom. 

It  is  true  that  a limited  number  of  physicians,  es- 
tablishing themselves  in  large  seaport  towns  in 
Asiatic  countries  and  limiting  their  practice  to  the 
foreign  population  and  wealthy  natives,  may  secure 
for  themselves  a living,  but  the  character  of  their 
patients  and  practice  itself  precludes  the  practicability 
of  anything  but  very  limited  missionary  work.  There 
are,  in  many  of  the  seaport  cities,  foreign  physicians 
with  lucrative  practices,  but  they  are  either  govern- 
ment servants  on  salary,  or  ex-government  officials 
whose  former  practice  under  the  government  had 
secured  for  them  their  professional  reputation  and 
patients ; or  perchance  there  are  a few  such  physi- 
cians in  foreign  settlements  who  are  and  have  always 
been  independent  of  government  or  other  organiza- 


Support  of  Medical  Missions. 


65 


I 

I 

i 

I 


tions.  It  cannot,  however,  be  said  that  any  of  these 
classes  of  medical  practitioners  are  in  any  sense  mis- 
sionary physicians,  though  some  among  them  are 
doubtless  earnest  Christian  men. 

The  medical  missionary  is  as  really  a missionary  as 
any  other  worker  on  the  field,  and  as  such  he  is  a 
laborer  worthy  of  his  hire.  His  society  should  so 
provide  for  his  personal  support  as  to  allow  him  to 
give  his  undivided  attention  to  his  work  as  a mission- 
ary as  well  as  a physician.  Fees  received  by  him  for 
his  services  should  revert  to  the  home  society  or  with 
its  sanction  go  toward  the  maintenance  of  the  work 
itself.  To  make  a medical  missionary  depend  upon 
his  fees  for  personal  support  would  be  to  restrict  his 
usefulness ; and  to  grant  him  for  personal  use  in  addi- 
tion to  a stated  allowance  from  the  home  society  the 
fees  that  he  might  himself  secure,  would  be  to  foster  a 
mercenary  spirit, — a spirit  that  would  be  disastrous  to 
him  as  a missionary  and,  in  addition,  to  the  spiritual 
interests  of  his  work.  The  maxim,  “ First  a mission- 
ary and  secondly  a physician,”  is  one  that  in  this  con- 
nection should  be  remembered  by  the  missionary 
society  as  well  as  by  the  missionary  physician  himself. 

The  question.  How  far  may  the  medical  mission- 
ary’s work  be  self-supporting  ? is  one  to  which  a more 
hopeful  answer  may  be  given  than  in  the  case  of  per- 
sonal support,  for  the  reason  that  experience  and 
practice  go  to  prove  that  self-support  for  the  work  is 
much  more  possible  than  it  is  for  the  worker.  But 

19 


66 


The  Medical  Mission. 


with  regard  to  this  second  query  also,  the  answer 
must  necessarily  vary  according  to  country  and  dis- 
trict in  which  operations  are  conducted.  In  some 
fields  the  work  itself  is  entirely  self-supporting,  in 
others  mostly  or  partially  so,  and  again  in  others  it  is 
entirely  dependent  upon  the  home  society.  The  fact 
of  greater  or  lesser  support  of  the  work  will  depend 
in  a large  measure  on  the  policy  and  peculiarity  of 
the  medical  missionary  himself.  There  are  those  who 
deprecate  the  desirability  of  making  the  medical 
work  self-su]jporting,  while  the  majority,  probably,  be- 
lieve in  at  least  an  effort  to  make  it  measurably  or 
completely  self-sustaining. 

The  great  medical  work  conducted  under  the  phy- 
sicians of  the  American  Presbyterian  Board  in  Can- 
ton, China,  where  annually  between  35,000  and  40,000 
patients  are  treated  and  hundreds  of  operations  are 
performed,  has  been  for  years  sustained  wholly  by 
gifts  secured  in  the  country.  This  is  also  true  of 
other  work  under  the  China  Medical  Association  of 
which  the  Canton  work  is  a part. 

In  India  in  some  districts  in  the  English  territories, 
government  grants  in  aid  have  been  for  years  allowed 
to  mission  hospitals,  while  others  by  the  fees  and 
roluntary  gifts  of  natives  and  English  residents,  or 
from  profits  derived  from  sale  of  medicines,  have 
been  largely  or  wholly  self-supporting. 

The  large  medical  work  under  Dr.  Chester  of  the 
American  (Congregational)  Board  at  Dindigul,  South 


Support  of  Medical  Missions.  67 

India,  where  more  than  20,000  patients  are  yearly 
treated,  has  not,  during  more  than  a quarter  of  a 
century,  cost  the  home  society  a single  cent. 

The  South  Travancore  Medical  Mission  of  the  Lon- 
don Missionary  Society  with  medical  work  at  fourteen 
different  centers,  covering  an  area  of  2,079  square 
miles,  and  treating  many  thousand  patients  annually, 
is  largely  supported  from  funds  raised  in  the  country. 

The  work  of  which  the  writer  has  been  in  charge  in 
Western  India  has  been  from  year  to  year  increasingly 
self-supporting.  There  is  a hospital  with  sixty  beds, 
and  a large  out-door  department,  where  between 
10,000  and  15,000  patients  are  annually  treated.  This 
establishment  is  more  than  half  self-sustaining  from 
the  fees  charged  to,  and  given  by  patients.  We  receive 
no  state  aid  whatever. 

In  Siam  and  Laos  through  gifts  from  the  king, 
gifts  from  well-to-do  patients  and  from  sale  of  medi- 
cines, the  medical  missions, — the  extensive  medical 
work  conducted  under  the  American  Presbyterian 
Board, — has  been  in  a large  measure  self-supporting. 

In  Turkey,  Asia  Minor,  Persia,  Korea  and  other 
lands,  widespread  medical  work  is  carried  on  at  a 
comparatively  small  cost  to  the  home  societies.  In 
some  instances,  patients  are  allowed  to  provide  for 
themselves  food  and  bedding  or  both.  Native  help 
is  comparatively  cheap,  and  methods  of  conducting  the 
work  are  simple  and  inexpensive,  so  that  for  a given 
sum  a much  larger  number  of  patients  can  be  success- 


68 


The  Medical  Mission. 


fully  treated  than  can  be  at  home.  In  our  own  hos- 
pital fifty  dollars  will  support  an  occupied  bed  for  one 
year.  In  Indian  government  hospitals  the  cost  is 
twice  this  amount,  and  in  many  of  our  American  hos- 
pitals six  times  this  sum  is  required. 

'I'he  older  the  medical  mission  is,  the  better  is  the 
jjrospect  of  making  it  self-sustaining.  Self-support  of 
the  work  is  something  to  be  aimed  at  and  striven  for, 
since  to  provide  free  treatment  to  those  who  are  at 
least  able  to  pay  for  medicines  is  to  pauperize  them 
and  make  them  dependent.  Moreover,  the  medi- 
cines if  paid  for  will  be  all  the  more  appreciated,  and 
there  is  not  the  danger  of  their  being  wasted  or 
wrongly  taken  that  there  is  when  they  are  received 
gratis. 

'I’he  actual  self-support  of  medical  missions  already 
acquired  and  the  prospective  support  of  such  work 
still  to  be  established  or  yet  in  its  incipiency  are  fea- 
tures which  commend  it  to  the  hearty  cooperation, 
sympathy  and  aid  of  the  Church  and  Christians  every- 
where. 


CHAPTER  X. 


QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  THE  SERVICE. 

The  question  of  proper  qualifications  for  medical 
missionary  work  has  been,  in  part  at  least,  answered 
in  the  foregoing  chapters.  But  inasmuch  as  a large 
number  of  letters  received  by  the  writer  from  students 
and  others  with  regard  to  the  matter  of  training  and 
I qualifications  for  the  work  indicate  among  many  an 
I apparent  lack  of  knowledge  and  a serious  misappre- 
! hension  of  the  subject,  a concise  statement  and  one 
I harmonizing  with  the  general  requirements  of  the 
I missionary  boards  is  here  made. 

I At  the  outset,  it  may  be  well  to  state,  though  it 
will  to  some  appear  superfluous,  that  no  physician  or 
prospective  physician,  be  he  ever  so  successful  as  a 
student  or  practitioner,  who  is  not  a professed  and 
conscientious  believer  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  his 
personal  Saviour,  should  for  a moment  be  considered 
eligible  for  the  work  of  a medical  missionary.  This 
statement  is  made  for  the  reason  that  men  have 
applied  to  our  mission  boards  for  the  position  when 
their  own  greatest  need  was  that  which  they  would 
by  their  very  profession  declare  to  others,  namely, 
saving  faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 

69 


70 


The  Medical  Mission. 


It  may  be  further  stated,  that  not  all  physicians  or 
medical  students  who  are  professing  Christians,  in 
their  jrresent  stage  of  Christian  growth,  would  be  con- 
sidered acceptable  for  medical  missionary  work.  It 
may  also  be  said,  that  not  all  Christian  students  and 
others  who  may  already  possess  suitable  spiritual  qual- 
ifications would  make  successful  medical  mi.ssionaries. 
Neither  is  it  desirable  or  necessary  that  all  mission- 
aries should  be  medical  missionaries,  since  in  some 
lands,  or  districts  in  certain  fields,  educated  physi- 
cians already  labor  and  the  government  medical  serv- 
ice is  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  physical  needs  of 
the  people.  Districts  thus  supplied  are  comparatively 
very  small.  In  view  of  the  immense  general  needs,  it 
would  be  a useful  preparation  as  well  as  a wise  pre- 
caution for  every  missionary  entering  interior  districts, 
unless  he  were  definitely  appointed  beforehand,  to 
work  in  company  with  a medical  missionar)’  or  in  a 
locality  where  medical  help  is  permanently  available, 
to  arm  himself  with  a sufficient  * knowledge  of  prac- 
tical medicine  to  be  able  to  meet  emergencies  in  his 
own  family  and  in  those  of  his  native  associates.  “A 
little  knowledge  is  a dangerous  thing,”  especially  if  it 
is  very  little,  but  to  a missionary  there  is  probably  no 
kind  of  legitimate  knowledge  that  will  not  serve  him 
in  good  stead  on  the  mission  field.  Tnie,  in  some 
cases  missionaries  have  abused  their  slight  knowledge 

* Such  study  should  be  confined  to  elementary  anatomy, 
therapeutics,  minor  surgery  and  bandaging. 


j Qualifications  for  the  Service.  71 

, of  medicine  by  undertaking  what  they  were  not  capa- 
ble of  successfully  performing  and  thus  working  harm 
I to  the  cause,  yet  the  general  good  sense  and  judg- 
; ment  of  missionaries  has  not  in  the  aggregate  percep- 
tibly permitted  the  misuse  of  their  meager  knowledge 
1 of  medicine.  It  should  go  without  saying,  however, 

! that  no  missionary  without  full  medical  training  should 
j attempt  to  conduct  regular  dispensary  or  systematic 
' medical  work  of  any  kind.  While  it  is  a fact  that  by 
the  occasional  dispensing  of  simple  remedies  for  sim- 
ple diseases,  clerical  and  women  missionaries  have  been 
able  to  do  good  and  win  for  themselves  a way  to  the 
people  wliom  they  sought  to  spiritually  reach,  it  re- 
mains for  the  fully  qualified  physician  to  conduct  the 
work  of  a medical  mission. 

The  following  resolutions,  adopted  by  a conference 
of  the  medical  missionaries  present  at  the  Decennial 
Missionary  Conference  in  Bombay  in  January,  1893, 
with  regard  to  qualifications  of  medical ‘missionaries, 
state  tersely  the  requirements  which,  in  general,  may 
be  considered  suitable  for  all  mission  lands  : 

“ We  are  of  the  opinion  that  every  medical  mission 
should  be  thoroughly  equipped  professionally,  and  to 
this  end  we  consider  a hospital  to  be  an  absolute 
necessity. 

“ We  also  urge  that  men  and  women  sent  to  India 
as  medical  missionaries  should  invariably  possess  * 

*With  the  exception  of  Turkey  and  some  of  the  British 
and  other  foreign  provinces  in  certain  parts  of  Africa  and 


72 


The  Medical  Mission. 


legal  qualifications,  and  that  none  other  should  be 
placed  in  charge  of  medical  work.” 

To  those  who  have  already  decided  that  they  will, 
“God  permitting,”  go  as  missionaries,  and  have  not 
yet  determined  the  question  as  to  whether  they  shall 
go  as  medical  or  clerical  missionaries,  and  to  those 
who  may  not  have  decided  the  question  of  life  work 
in  its  relation  to  the  foreign  field,  but  are  waiting  for 
light  on  their  course,  the  following  fourfold  demands 
of  the  work  may  be  useful,  as  they  may  help  to  “ think 
through  to  a conclusion  ” these  very  important  con- 
siderations : 

They  are  : First,  good  health  ; Second,  adapta- 

tion ; Third,  professional  efficiency;  Fou7ih,  a conse- 
crated life. 

First,  good  health.  The  medical  missionary  is  one 
who  devotes  his  consecrated  life  and  professional  skill 
to  the  double  ministry  of  healing  the  sick  and  preaching 
the  gospel.  Clearly  his  work  is  intense  with  heavy 
responsibilities.  Physically  and  mentally  he  is  ever 
subject  to  an  exceptional  strain.  Add  to  this  the 
enervation  of  a foreign  climate  and  the  occasion  for 

South  America,  the  laws  in  foreign  mission  fields  do  not 
require  physicians  to  pass  state  examinations  in  order  to 
practice.  Indeed,  in  most  of  the  Eastern  mission  fields 
there  are  practically  no  laws  governing  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine such  as  exist  in  Western  countries.  The  people  value, 
however,  most  highly,  physicians  possessing  medical  degrees. 
And  among  Europeans  and  Americans  only  those  possessing 
medical  degrees  are  confidently  relied  upon. 


Qualifications  for  the  Service.  73 

sound  health  is  at  once  manifest.  The  student  who 
is  able,  at  the  present  time,  to  endure  the  jwessure  of 
a three  or  four  years’  medical  course  in  addition  to  a 
preliminary  education  without  impairment  of  his  gen- 
eral health  or  nervous  system  will  promise  well  for 
successful  endurance  on  the  foreign  field.  It  is  not 
always  necessary  that  a student  possess  an  athletic 
physique  or  robust  appearance,  but  the  work  does  call 
for  the  power  of  endurance,  a temperament  neither 
nervous  nor  phlegmatic,  a disposition  devoid  of  irrita- 
bility, but  hopeful  and  courageous.  An  extraordinarily 
healthy  appearance,  though  desirable,  is  not  always 
demanded,  but  good  staying  qualities  are  indispensable. 
It  is  not  always  those  who  apparently  are  best  fitted 
to  withstand  the  strain  of  work  and  climate  that 
actually  enjoy  the  best  health.  Indeed,  the  reverse 
is  often  the  case.  A previous  record  of  good  health 
under  continued  mental  pressure  and  physical  trial  at 
home  augurs  well  for  continued  good  health  abroad, 
and  is  probably  the  best  guide  in  the  decision  as 
regards  bodily  endurance  abroad. 

Second,  adaptation.  To  the  student  yet  in  college 
adaptation  for  medical  work  in  addition  to  Christian 
consecration  is  a matter  to  be  considered  prior  to 
entering  the  medical  school,  and  in  this,  the  natural 
bent  of  his  nature,  his  inherited  talents  and  acquired 
gifts  will  largely  determine  the  decision  to  be  made. 
To  the  medical  student  or  graduated  physician  the 
fact  of  success  and  pleasure  in  Christian  work  at  home 


74 


The  Medical  Mission. 


gives  the  surest  prospect  of  efficiency  in  medical  mis- 
sionary work  abroad.  Of  all  missionaries,  the  medical 
should  be  a versatile  missionary.  Natural  ingenuity, 
business  ability,  acquired  skill,  of  whatever  character, 
can  profitably  be  made  to  subserve  his  work  as  a 
physician.  If  rare  linguistic  talent  is  not  possessed, 
stick-to-it-iveness  will  generally  insure  successful  acqui- 
sition of  a foreign  language,  which,  in  order  to  suc- 
cessful work  as  a physician  as  well  as  a missionary,  is 
indispensable. 

Third,  pi-ofessional  efficiency.  By  this  is  not  meant 
professional  celebrity.  Interpreted  in  the  present 
instance  it  means  a good  all-round  medical  educa- 
tion, or,  in  other  words,  graduation  from  a medical 
school  of  good  standing  where  the  course  is  not  less 
than  three  years  of  from  six  to  eight  months  each. 
The  candidate  should  be  able  to  pass  any  of  our  State 
Board  examinations,  and  preferably  should  actually 
have  done  so  before  applying  to  the  Mission  Board. 
A four-years’  course  is  most  desirable.  In  addition  to 
the  regular  medical  course,  hospital  or  post  graduate 
experience  should  be  secured.  In  any  case  sufficient 
experience  to  inspire  personal  confidence  and  insure 
progressive  efficiency  on  the  field  should  be  possessed. 
General  practitioners,  rather  than  .specialists,  are 
required.  Particular  attention  should  be  paid  to 
tropical  diseases  during  the  general  course,  and  their 
special  study  undertaken  after  graduation.*  Setting 
* Broadly  speaking,  four  classes  of  diseases  are  more  preva- 


Qualifications  for  the  Service.  75 

up  private  practice  in  order  to  secure  post  graduate 
experience  is  generally  unwise,  since  business  compli- 
cations often  lead  to  permanent  anchorage  at  home. 
Association  with  another  physician,  dispensary  and 
hospital  work,  preferably  the  latter  always,  is  the  best 
means  of  gaining  desired  experience.  At  least  a year 
after  graduation  should  be  spent  in  this  way.  Medical 
missions  are  not  in  need  of  quacks.  Any  kind  of 
practice  of  this  land  may  be  an  improvement  on  that 
of  heathen  lands,  but  for  obvious  reasons  any  kind  of 
practice  is  not  suited  for  missionary  purposes.  The 
missionary  physician,  as  such,  is  generally  alone,  and 
possessing  only  assistants  relatively  poorly  qualified, 
their  advice  he  does  not  sufficiently  value  to  follow ; 
hence  he  is  cast  upon  his  own  resources,  as  he  is  not 
at  home  where  a consultant  is  always  easily  avail- 
able. He  is  possibly  a pioneer  as  a physician,  and 
though  probably  accompanied  by  other  missionaries, 
his  work  is  to  be  established,  built  up  and  expanded 
by  dint  of  his  own  ability  and  labor.  He  will  be 
obliged  to  aid  in,  or  by  himself  undertake,  the  training 
of  his  own  native  assistants.  Both  for  the  good  of  the 
mission  work  in  general  and  for  his  personal  reputa- 
tion on  the  success  of  his  initial  work  much  depends  ; 
particularly  if  it  be  operative  work,  he  should  have 
had  some  experience.  Moreover,  the  precious  lives 

lent  in  tropical  countries  than  they  are  in  America,  viz:  Dis- 

eases of  the  alimentary  canal,  fevers,  skin  diseases,  eye 
diseases. 


76 


The  Medical  Mission. 


, and  health  of  missionaries  are  often  solely  dependent, 
from  a human  standpoint,  on  the  skill  and  good 
judgment  which  he  is  supposed  to  possess.  Questions 
of  sanitation  and  health-change  for  missionaries  will 
often  be  submitted  for  his  advice  or  approval.  Says 
Dr.  J.  G.  Kerr  of  Canton : “ If  then  the  work  of  the 
medical  missionary  is  to  be  a testimony  to  the  charac- 
ter and  benefits  of  a religion  which  comes  from 
heaven  for  the  salvation  of  men,  it  devolves  on  him 
to  do  the  best  possible  work ; for  in  this  way  only 
can  he  attain  the  best  possible  results.” 

Fourth,  a consecrated  life.  Missionary  ser\ice 
should  always  be  undertaken  as  a life  seiA-ice,  “ God 
permitting.”  The  medical  missionary,  like  any  other, 
should  go  to  the  field  prepared  to  devote  his  life  (with 
seasons  of  rest  at  home)  to  the  work  unless  provi- 
dential inter\ention  make  its  relinquishment  a neces- 
sity. In  his  tour  of  the  medical  colleges  the  writer 
found  a number  of  students  who  expressed  a willing- 
ness to  enter  the  ser\dce  for  a time  for  the  sake  of  the 
wide  professional  experience  likely  to  be  gained,  and 
who  manifested  equal  unwillingness  to  devote  a life  to 
the  work.  Practically  this  was  their  position  : Antici- 
pating difficulty  on  account  of  the  already  over- 
crowded profession,  or  because  of  their  own  inability 
to  secure  a suitable  practice  at  home,  they  would  go 
to  the  mission  field  at  heavy  expense  to  a mission 
board,  labor  for  a few  years  and,  having  acquired  the 
desired  professional  experience,  return  to  America, 


Qualifications  for  the  Service.  77 

j and,  through  the  means  of  their  practical  knowledge 
j abroad,  make  for  themselves  professional  fame  and 
I wealth  and  social  position.  Suffice  it  to  say,  the  com- 
! mendable  scrutiny  of  candidates’  credentials  on  the 
part  of  mission  boards  prevents  many  such  persons 
from  reaching  the  field  under  their  care. 

First,  then,  the  medical  missionary  should  be  a 
j man  possessed  of  an  earnest  desire  to  save  souls. 
Professional  experience  and  the  amelioration  of  suf- 
fering, however  good  and  praiseworthy  in  themselves, 

I are  not  all  that  a true  medical  missionary  seeks  to 
I accomplish.  To  secure  merely  the  physical  good  of 
a patient  is  to  lose  the  highest  joy  which  the  service 
itself  affords,  and  to  fail  in  spiritual  ministration  is  to 
' cut  the  nerve  which  itself  tingles  with  the  real  blessed- 
j ness  of  the  service.  To  be  able  to  open  blind  eyes, 
to  straighten  crooked  limbs,  and  to  save  human  life, 
j is  a work  which  for  its  own  sake  brings  delightful 
I satisfaction ; but  to  save  a sin-sick  soul  and  to  point 
multitudes  of  diseased  sinners  to  the  Lamb  of  God  is 
i a work  which  secures  the  most  blessed  compensation, 

I the  most  lasting  joy.  For,  after  all,  the  physician  per 
se  is  largely  like  a shoemaker  who  can  only  patch  up 
old  shoes  which  are  soon  to  be  cast  aside.  Men’s 
bodies  may  be  repaired  by  the  doctor,  but  sooner  or 
j later  they  go  to  dust.  The  work  of  leading  a soul  to 
, Christ  involves  eternal  interests.  It  is  a work  that 
never  dies. 

To  the  competent  physician  there  is  always  the 


78 


The  Medical  Mission. 


danger  of  becoming  so  engrossed  in  secular  duties  as 
to  neglect  spiritual  privileges.  There  is  the  danger 
of  becoming  ambitious  to  develop  a professional  repu- 
tation at  the  expense  of  losing  spiritual  power.  To 
avoid  this  Christ  must  be  in  full  possession,  his  grip 
must  be  firm  and  permanent.  There  should  be  a 
desire  to  do  good  unto  all  men  for  the  love  of  doing 
it.  He  who  can  get  down  to  the  plane  of  the  sick 
and  dying  heathen  and,  while  seeking  to  relieve  his 
bodily  suffering  forgets  not  to  apply  the  gospel  balm 
to  his  sin-burdened  heart,  is  the  missionary  most  in 
demand. 

The  medical  missionary  is  in  a peculiar  sense  a 
specialist,  but  he  should  ever  remember  that  his 
specialty  is  soul-saving.  Though  his  time  will  be 
mostly  expended  in  performing  professional  duties,  the 
supreme  and  ultimate  aim  of  his  labors  is  to  set  forth 
Christ  as  a Saviour.  Zinzendorf’s  passion,  “ He,  he 
alone,”  should  be  his  passion ; and  Henry  Martyn’s 
motto  “ Burn  out  for  God  ” his  own.  His  medical 
and  surgical  work  cannot  be  too  thoroughgoing  and 
he  may  even  delight  in  his  professional  work,  but  he 
should  revel  in  the  luxury  of  saving  souls.  Of  Ansgar, 
who  lived  in  Corbie  in  the  9th  century,  it  is  saitl  that 
heathen  and  Christians  alike  attributed  to  him  the 
power  of  working  miracles.  He  denied  this  power, 
saying,  “ If  I were  thought  worthy  before  my  God  of 
that,  I would  beseech  him  to  grant  me  this  miracle 
that  by  his  grace  he  would  make  of  me  a holy  man.” 


Qualifications  for  the  Service.  79 

Said  Dr.  David  Livingstone  : “ I will  place  no  value 
on  anything  I have  or  may  possess  save  in  its  relation 
to  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  If  anything  I have  will 
advance  the  interests  of  that  kingdom,  it  shall  be 
given  or  kept,  as  by  giving  or  keeping  I can  most 
promote  the  glory  of  him  to  whom  I owe  all  my  hopes 
for  time  and  eternity.”  How  fully  Livingstone  lived 
up  to  this  noble  purpose  and  the  effect  of  thus  living 
the  testimony  of  Henry  M.  Stanley  who  found  Livings- 
tone in  1871,  makes  clear.  He  says:  “I  went  to 
him  as  prejudiced  as  the  biggest  atheist.  I was  there 
away  from  a worldly  world.  I saw  this  solitary  old 
man  there  and  asked  myself.  Why  on  earth  does  he 
stop  here?  For  months  after  we  met  I found  myself 
listening  to  him  and  wondering  at  the  old  man  carry- 
ing out  everything  that  was  said  in  the  Bible.  little 
by  little  his  sympathy  for  others  became  contagious ; 
mine  was  aroused.  Seeing  his  piety,  his  gentleness, 
his  zeal,  his  earnestness  and  how  quietly  he  went 
about  his  business,  I was  converted  by  him,  although 
he  had  not  tried  to  do  it.”  Livingstone’s  life  was 
swayed  by  sympathy  for  the  suffering  while  he  strove 
to  imitate  Christ.  His  was  a spirit  that  every  mis- 
sionary physician  would  do  well  to  foster  and 
imitate. 

Second.  If  the  life  once  consecrated  is  to  be 
enriched  and  developed,  the  first  essential  is  the 
personal,  persistent,  devotional  study  of  God’s  word. 
A complete  theological  education,  while  it  may  increase 


8o 


The  Medical  Mission. 


the  usefulness  of  the  medical  missionary,  is  not  in 
most  cases  demanded.  In  these  days  of  division  of 
labor  the  missionary  will  either  as  such  be  a successful 
clerical  or  a successful  medical  missionary.  He  will 
be  either  one  or  the  other,  though  probably  not  suc- 
cessful as  both.  But  few  men  have  both  strength  and 
ability  to  successfully  prosecute  the  work  of  two  dis- 
tinct professions.  The  medical  missionary  should, 
however,  possess  a good  general  knowledge  of  the 
English  Scriptures.  He  should  have  learned  to  love 
and  faithfully  study  the  Bible  at  home  to  an  extent 
that  will  insure  the  persistent  continuation  of  the  same 
study  after  reaching  the  field.  This  is  necessary, 
primarily  for  his  own  growth  in  grace.  It  is  in- 
dispensable if  he  is  to  lead  his  patients  to  Christ,  that 
he  should  have  a clear  and  comprehensive  knowledge 
of  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  Scripture.  If  not  already 
possessed,  this  knowledge  may  be  secured  in  some 
one  of  our  Bible  training  schools,  such  as  the  Moody 
Bible  Institute  in  Chicago.  It  may  be  received  con- 
jointly with  the  medical  course,  if  such  a course  runs 
over  four  years,  or  during  vacations  if  the  course  be 
three  years,  or  at  the  termination  of  the  medical 
course,  or  during  the  time  of  post-graduate  medical 
work.  The  length  of  such  a course  will  depend  to  some 
extent  on  previous  training  at  home,  at  college,  or 
elsewhere.  His  work  on  the  field  will  be  largely  con- 
fined to  the  imparting  of  the  simplest  gospel  truths, 
since  he  deals  chiefly  with  the  most  ignorant  and 


Qualifications  for  the  Service.  8i 

illiterate.  The  medical  missionary  in  most  instances 
has  little  time  for  profound  theological  study  and 
literary  work,  and  the  time  at  his  disposal  for  religious 
reading  and  development  on  the  field  should  be 
utilized  in  the  study  of  that  by  which  he  can  best 
balance  his  own  life,  prepare  for  his  patients  a simple 
i but  faithful  message,  and  for  his  helpers  uplifting 
instruction. 

1 It  is  largely  with  his  life  that  he  is  to  commend  the 
j gospel.  He  will  have  to  teach  more  than  preach. 

His  work  on  the  field  will  bring  him  within  personal 
reach  of  souls  and  he  should  for  this  reason  have  had 
experience  of  personal  work  for  souls  at  home.  The 
power  of  oratory  and  rhetoric,  while  it  has  its  place 
with  the  clerical  work,  is  not  essential  to  the  medical 
missionary.  Ability  and  experience  in  the  study  of 
! human  nature  and  aptitude  to  meet  its  needs  are  for 
• him  the  most  valuable  requisites.  “ A Spirit-filled  life,” 
which  is  a “Word-filled”  life,  if  possessed,  will  insure 
I all  this. 

i Third.  He  should  be  a man  of  prayer.  In  seek- 
ing the  highest  welfare  of  his  patient  he  should  be 
j prepared  to  pray  with  him.  He  will  often  be  called 
upon  to  pray  his  patients  into  the  kingdom,  obstacles 
out  of  the  way  of  his  work,  buildings  into  existence 
and  courage  into  the  hearts  of  his  helpers.  His  con- 
‘ stant  subjection  to  trying  responsiblity  demands  that 
he  know  where  to  cast  his  burden.  A dozen  lives 
I may  at  once  be  dependent  upon  his  skill.  He  is 


82 


The  Medical  Mission. 


repeatedly  called  upon  to  perform  operations  which 
at  home  are  seldom  undertaken  except  by  specialists 
and  with  all  the  collaterals  of  a well-regulated  hospital, 
trained  medical  assistants  and  nurses.  If  he  be  the 
pioneer  and  medical  missionary  he  will  have  to  under- 
take operations  with  meager  assistance  and  in  the 
most  unfavorable  surroundings.  His  skill  and  judg- 
ment will  often  be  taxed  to  the  utmost.  In  the 
writer’s  experience  his  first  major  operations  were 
performed  in  a bathroom  about  six  feet  by  ten,  and  the 
patients,  who  had  unciergone  am]>utation  of  the  thigh, 
of  the  leg,  an  abdominal  section,  several  cataracts 
and  other  operations,  had  their  convalescence  on  the 
mud  floor  of  a native  house.  It  is  under  such  cir- 
cumstances that  a man  is  driven  to  God  for  help.  It 
has  probably  been  the  experience  of  most  medical 
missionaries,  that  cases  often  fearfully  desperate  have 
recovered  under  the  intelligent  treatment  and  earnest 
prayer  of  the  physician,  and  blessing  to  the  work,  as 
well  as  to  the  patient  has  always  resulted.  For  these 
reasons,  then,  the  missionary  should  be  able  to  faith- 
fully “ practice  the  presence  of  God  ” as  well  as  to 
intelligently  practice  the  art  of  his  profession. 
Christ  never  taught  his  disciples  to  preach  well,  but 
he  did  teach  them  to  pray  well. 

No  amount  of  medical  work  should  supplant  the 
“still  hour”  of  prayer  and  Bible  study.  The  time  for 
“ aloneness  ” with  God  should  at  all  costs  be  reserved. 
“ Time  spent  in  prayer  is  saved  in  blessing.  Time 


Qualifications  for  the  Service. 


83 


saved  from  prayer  will  be  lost  in  power.”  John  Eliot 
said  : “ Prayer  and  pains  through  faith  in  Christ  will 
accomplish  anything.”  Nesima  said  : “ Let  us  ad- 
vance on  our  knees.” 


CHAPTER  XI. 


APPEAL  TO  CHRISTIAN  STUDENTS. 

To  Christian  medical  students  as  yet  undecided  as 
to  where  and  how  your  life  shall  be  planted  in  order 
that  it  may  bear  the  most  fruit, — to  you  is  this  frater- 
nal message  written. 

On  the  ground  of  your  professed  love  for  and  loyalty 
to,  Christ,  in  his  name  and  for  his  sake  I appeal  to  you. 
In  view  of  the  world’s  great  needs  and  the  possibilities 
of  your  own  life  in  helping  to  meet  them,  and  in  view 
of  the  relative  opportunities  at  home  and  abroad,  I 
plead  for  your  earnest,  honest  and  faithful  considera- 
tion of  this  momentous  question — this  question  of 
your  life  work,  the  question  of  casting  the  power  and 
influence  of  your  “ one  short  life  ” where  it  will  count 
most  for  God,  where  it  will  count  most  for  humanity. 

First  of  all,  I ask  you  to  consider  the  standpoint  of 
the  e.xample  set  by  the  Great  Physician  himself.  From 
the  standpoint  of  the  life  of  him  whose  you  are  and 
whom  you  profess  to  serve,  I submit  that  it  is  more 
Christlike  to  go  forth  and  minister  to  the  greatest 
needs  of  the  greatest  number  than  it  is  to  stay  at  home 
and  be  spent  in  meeting  the  wants  of  the  compara- 
tively few.  I ask,  first  of  all,  that  you  consider  this 
84 


Appeal  to  Christian  Students  85 

great  question  from  the  standpoint  of  imitating 
Christ — the  standpoint  of  accomplishing  the  most  in 
alleviating  the  distresses  and  sorrows  of  this  disease- 
smitten  and  sin-stricken  world.  Side  by  side  with  the 
saving,  satisfying  life  of  Jesus,  and  face  to  face  with 
the  world’s  needs, — the  already  overwhelming  spiritual, 
the  unutterable  and  ever  increasing  physical  needs  of 
the  still  neglected  majority  of  our  race, — alone  before 
God  is  it  not  your  duty,  your  supreme  duty,  to  place 
yourself,  body,  soul  and  spirit,  and  then  honestly  and 
frankly  prove  to  your  heart  and  conscience  why,  in 
obedience  to  Christ’s  command  to  “ go  heal  ” in  his 
name,  and  “ witness  ” for  his  sake,  you  should  not 
surrender  yourself  to  him  for  this  service  of  greatest 
urgency  in  the  regions  beyond? 

It  is  fraternally  acknowledged  that  he  is  not  the 
greatest  physician  who  makes  the  greatest  name  or 
secures  the  largest  wealth  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, but  he  who,  content  v.'ith  necessary  comforts 
for  himself,  seeks  to  carry  to  the  largest  number  of 
physical  sufferers,  the  largest  number  of  physical 
blessings.  Even  on  the  basis  of  this  admission  the 
presumption  is  on  the  side  of  the  foreign  field.  But 
add  to  this  the  spiritual  possibilities  of  your  life  and 
there  is  yet  a more  urgent  reason  why  you  should 
devote  your  life  to  the  blessed  ministry  of  healing  the 
sick  and  preaching  the  gospel  among  those  who  still 
sit  “ in  the  darkness  and  in  the  region  and  shadow  of 
death.” 


86 


The  Medical  Mission. 


You  are,  perhaps,  ambitious.  You  will  do  well  to 
consider  Paul’s  two  great  ambitions.  First : He  was 
ambitious  not  to  preach  the  gospel  where  Christ  had 
already  been  named  (see  Rom.  15  : 20  margin). 
Second  : He  was  ambitious  to  be  “ well  pleasing  unto 

him”  (2  Cor.  5;  9 margin).  Should  not  the  end 
of  Paul’s  living  constitute  the  aim  of  your  life  ? How 
better  can  you  be  “ pleasing  unto  him  ” than  by  plac- 
ing your  life  where  it  helps  most  in  obedience  to  his 
last  injunction,  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture. Possibly  on  the  ground  of  inadequate  spiritual 
fitness  you  regard  yourself  ineligible.  But  is  this  lack 
not  due  to  your  own  neglect?  What  you  have  not, 
you  may  and  ought  to  have.  No  one  has  a monopoly 
of  God’s  gifts  and  graces.  If  the  evangelistic  student 
can  set  himself  to  secure  a medical  education  in  order 
to  enhance  his  usefulness  as  a missionary,  you  as  a 
medical  student  or  physician  have  the  same  oppor- 
tunity to  enrich  yourself  as  a Christian  for  the  same 
work.  Let  your  convictions  go  “ heart  deep  ” in  this 
matter.  Make  it  your  purpose  to  know  the  mind  of 
God,  and  he  will  lead  you  to  a safe  conclusion  as  to 
your  future.  After  all,  your  chief  concern  is  to  know 
him.  Make  him  King  in  your  life  and  he  will  supply 
your  lack  of  fitness.  God  is  able  to  make  you  abound 
in  himself,  and  he  will  do  for  you  in  the  matter  of  fit- 
ness more  than  you  can  ask  or  think  if  you  will  but 
surrender  yourself  fully  to  him. 

Perhaps  you  lack  courage.  The  possible  vicissi- 


Appeal  to  Christian  Students.  87 

tudes  of  life  in  a foreign  country  are  a menace  to  you 
in  this  duty  of  decision.  You  have  heard  of  riots  in 
China,  of  atrocities  in  Turkey,  of  cannibalism  in  Africa, 
and  your  heart  fails  within  you  as  you  think  of  leaving 
home  and  friends  to  enter  life  in  a foreign  land.  But, 
says  Christ  : “ He  that  taketh  not  his  cross,  and  fol- 
loweth  after  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me.”  “ He  that 
findeth  his  life  shall  lose  it : and  he  that  loseth  his 
life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it  ” (Matt.  10:  38,  39).  If 
man  can  go  everywhere  for  gold,  surely  you  should  be 
willing  to  go  anywhere  for  God.  If  for  the  sake 
of  science  eleven  leaders  of  seventeen  expeditions 
sent  out  in  forty  years  to  ascertain  the  sources  of  the 
Niger  river,  could  lay  down  their  lives,  surely  there 
should  be  a willingness  on  your  part  to  lay  down 
something  for  Christ’s  sake  and  the  gospel’s.  You 
read  and  readily  appropriate  John  3 : 16 — “God  so 
loved  the  world — he  so  loved  me — that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son ; ” but  you  fail  to  acknowledge  i John 
3:  16 — “Because  he  laid  down  his  life  for  us,  we 
ought  also  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren.” 
But  granting  your  fears  of  life  in  a foreign  country, 
they  are  probably  ill-founded  and  certainly  overdrawn. 
News  of  a riot  in  China  or  a death  in  Africa  startles  you, 
but  you  forget  the  thousands  of  missionaries  (now 
over  10,000  in  all)  who  labor  not  only  unmolested, 
but  who  are  welcomed  and  aided  by  the  communities 
for  whom  they  labor.  In  the  society  having  the 
largest  number  of  missionaries  under  its  care  in  China, 


88 


The  Medical  Mission. 


The  China  Inland  Mission,  whose  present  number 
is  630,  not  a single  worker  for  more  than  thirty 
years  has  lost  his  life  by  violence,  and  last  year  in  this 
same  society  the  mortality  from  disease  was  only  one 
and  one  half  per  cent.  The  danger  to  life  in  an 
American  city  with  its  modern  trolley  cars,  live  wires, 
steamboats,  railways,  elevators,  bicycles  by  day, 
thieves,  thugs  and  cut-throats  by  night,  is  as  a matter 
of  fact  greater  than  that  to  which  missionaries  are 
subject  in  almost  any  foreign  country.  For  my  own 
part  I regard  my  life  infinitely  safer  from  violence  in 
India  than  I would  in  almost  any  of  our  American 
cities,  though  the  risk  from  the  climate  itself  may  be 
greater  than  at  home.  But  though  calamity  should 
overtake  you — this  is  also  possible  at  home — should 
you  not  be  willing  to  make  the  sacrifice  for  God  and 
for  your  fellow-men  ? 

To  every  true  and  loyal  subject  of  King  Jesus  there 
is  but  one  sphere  of  service  and  that  is  the  world. 
There  is  but  one  question  of  service  and  that  is, 
“Lord  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?”  There  is 
but  one  object  of  ser\uce  and  that  is  the  glor)'  of  our 
Lord  and  Master.  “ The  field  is  the  world  and  the 
, world  is  the  field  ” as  much  for  the  doctor  of  medi- 
cine as  it  is  for  the  preacher  of  the  gospel,  but  if  you 
are  to  glorify  him  most  whose  you  are  and  obey  him 
best  whom  you  ser\'e  is  not  the  presumption  in  favor 
of  the  field  which  calls  most  loudly  for  your  help? 

Second.  Your  seiA'ices  as  a physician  are  most 


Appeal  to  Christian  Students.  89 

needed  on  the  foreign  field.  At  home  in  America 
there  is  a physician  within  a stone’s  throw  almost  of 
every  house.  There  is  a doctor  in  every  625  of  the 
population,  while  in  foreign  lands  there  is  but  one  in 
every  2,500,000.  At  home,  for  every  2,500,000  of 
the  population  there  are  4,000  physicians.  In  foreign 
mission  fields  there  is  but  one  to  the  same  number. 
In  other  words,  the  supply  of  physicians  at  home  is 
just  4,000  times  as  great  as  that  abroad.  Greater 
New  York  has  more  competent  physicians  and  helpers 
than  the  combined  medical  forces  among  800,000,000 
of  heathen  and  Mohammedans.  America  has  two 
and  a half  times  as  many  physicians  for  the  population 
as  Great  Britain,  where  it  is  improbable  that  any  one 
suffers  for  want  of  available  medical  aid ; yet  on  the 
basis  of  England’s  supply,  India  could  fill  the  hands 
of  190,000  physicians,  China  and  her  dependencies 
could  employ  260,000  more.  These  two  countries 
combined  demand  an  army  of  450,000  educated 
physicians  to  provide  medical  aid  for  their  teeming 
multitudes,  but  Chicago  can  boast  of  more  physicians 
and  medical  workers  than  these  two  entire  countries 
possess.  And  what  of  Africa,  where  100,000  physi- 
cians would  scarcely  be  able  to  cope  with  indigenous 
diseases  not  to  speak  of  the  untold  suffering  resulting 
from  slavery,  debauchery,  and  rapine?  Then,  too, 
there  is  Siam  and  other  Indo-Chinese  countries,  Persia, 
Arabia,  Turkey  which,  together  at  the  lowest 
estimate,  would  furnish  work  for  100,000  more.  Five 


90 


The  Medical  Mission. 


thousand  physicians  are  annually  graduated  from 
American  medical  schools.  In  view  of  this  fact  is 
any  one  likely  to  suffer  for  lack  of  medical  help  if  you 
go  as  a medical  missionary?  Surely  America  is  in  a 
position  as  no  other  country  is  to  supply  the  needs  of 
these  suffering  millions. 

Have  you  ever  seriously  considered  the  appalling 
truth  that  one-half  of  our  race  are  still  destitute  of 
the  commonest  physical  blessings,  which  we  in  West- 
ern lands  for  decades  have  enjoyed — blessings  of 
which  they  are  bereft,  but  which  you  in  part  have  the 
power  to  impart?  Has  it  occurred  to  you  that  the 
knowledge  which  God  has  given  or  is  giving  you  may 
be  used  of  him  in  relieving  the  sufferings  of  tens  of 
thousands,  while  at  home  it  will  probably  not  benefit 
more  than  a few  hundreds?  I pray  you  to  remember, 
that  what  God  has  given  you,  he  has  given  you  in 
trust.  What  he  has  given  to  you,  you  owe  to  them. 

“ It  is  a debt  from  which  you  cannot  escape  save  at 
the  sacrifice  of  the  instincts  of  your  humanity  and  the 
promises  of  your  religion.”  If  you  have  no  mercy  on 
the  heathen  while  you  are  capable  of  helping  them, 
what  right  have  you  to  expect  that  God  will  have 
mercy  upon  you? 

Said  Ion  Keith-Falconer,  a missionary  to  .\rabia  : . 
“ While  vast  continents  are  shrouded  in  utter  dark- 
ness and  hundreds  of  millions  suffer  the  horrors  of 
heathenism  and  Islam,  the  burden  of  proof  lies  with 
you  to  show  that  the  circumstances  in  which  God  has 


I 


Appeal  to  Christian  Students.  91 

placed  you  were  meant  by  him  to  keep  you  out  of 
the  foreign  field.”  This  is  a Christlike  maxim  and 
should  be  pondered  on  your  knees. 

Third.  Going  will  secure  to  you  the  largest  expe- 
rience in  the  practice  of  your  profession  and  the 
widest  influence  in  the  service  of  Christ.  As  a physician 
you  may  develop  yourself  as  you  never  can  at  home. 
The  writer  has  had  more  experience  in  a single  month 
in  India  than  the  average  practitioner  has  in  a year 
and  more  than  many  have  in  five.  The  medical  mis- 
sionary is  constantly  thrown  upon  his  own  resources 
and  must  undertake  difficult  and  important  opera- 
tions. This  develops  his  skill  as  nothing  else  can. 
You  may  have  the  experience  of  many  medical  mis- 
sionaries whose  privilege  it  is  to  treat  thousands  of 
cases  and  perform  hundreds  of  operations  every  year. 

The  experience  of  Dr.  Hall,  a surgeon  in  Allaha- 
bad, India,  may  in  time  be  yours.  Dr.  Hall  recently 
visited  a village  twenty-six  miles  from  an  English  sta- 
tion and  twelve  miles  from  the  nearest  railroad  sta- 
tion. Remaining  there  six  days  he  opened  a dispen- 
sary under  a large  mango  tree.  During  those  six 
days  he  saw  394  patients,  performed  147  operations 
upon  the  eye,  sixty-nine  of  which  were  for  cataract. 
He  returned  home  leaving  a native  assistant  in  charge 
of  the  cases. 

Medical  missionaries  in  heathen  lands  are  laying  deep 
and  strong  the  foundations  for  the  development  of 
medical  science,  foundations  upon  which  are  yet  to  be 


92 


The  Medical  Mission. 


reared  institutions  similar  to  those  in  the  West.  They 
are  casting  up  a highway  upon  which  multitudes  of 
our  profession  are  yet  to  travel,  and,  traveling,  shall 
bless  the  world  with  their  knowledge  and  skill. 

But  your  influence  for  moral  and  spiritual  ends  is 
undoubtedly  greater  than  it  is  ever  likely  to  be  at 
home.  At  home  the  physician  is  much  on  the  same 
level  with  his  fellow-citizens  as  regards  influence. 
In  foreign  lands  few  are  as  highly  esteemed  and 
few  have  greater  moral  influence.  This  fact,  too, 
should  help  you  to  a decision  to  go.  You  may 
occupy  by  yourself  a district  covering  hundreds 
of  square  miles.  Thousands  of  patients  wait  to 
greet  you,  welcome  your  skill,  and  spread  your  fame 
over  a whole  country.  In  1891,  a medical  mission- 
ary in  China  treated  fourteen  thousand  patients,  rep- 
resenting eleven  of  the  eighteen  great  provinces  of 
China.  Your  influence  will  make  possible  the  resi- 
dence of,  and  secure  the  good  will  of  the  heathen  for, 
other  missionaries,  thus  strengthening  and  fortifying 
the  work  as  a whole.  Through  you  other  work  may 
be  tolerated,  developed  and  expanded.  You  can  en- 
ter houses  where  no  one  else  can  go ; you  can  reach 
hearts  barred  fast  against  all  others,  your  place  is 
unique,  you  alone  can  fill  it.  Dr.  Asahel  Grant,  writ- 
ing of  his  work  in  Persia  said  : “ As  I have  witnessed 
the  relief  of  hitherto  hopeless  sufferers  and  seen  their 
grateful  attempts  to  kiss  my  feet  and  my  very  shoes 
at  the  door,  both  of  which  they  would  literally  bathe 


Appeal  to  Christian  Students.  93 

with  tears,  especially  as  I have  seen  the  haughty 
moolah  stoop  to  kiss  the  border  of  the  despised 
Christian’s  garment,  thanking  God  that  I would  not 
refuse  medicine  to  a Moslem,  and  others  saying  that 
in  every  prayer  they  thank  God  for  my  coming,  I have 
felt  that  even  before  I could  teach  our  religion  I was 
doing  something  to  recommend  it  and  break  down 
prejudices,  and  wished  that  more  of  my  professional 
brethren  might  share  in  the  luxury  of  doing  such  work 
for  Christ.” 

Fourth.  It  will  elevate  and  sanctify  your  practice 
of  medicine  by  making  it  participate  in  God’s  great 
plan  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  By  amalga- 
mating the  two  noblest  professions  on  earth — healing 
and  preaching — it  makes  them  the  peer  of  any  one 
profession.  God  has  a great  plan  for  this  world 
which,  as  we  know,  is  its  evangelization.  The  medi- 
cal mission  has  been  greatly  used  of  him  already  in 
accomplishing  this  end.  But  oh  ! how  much  there  is 
yet  to  be  done  ! The  cry  goes  up  from  the  little  band 
of  workers  now  on  the  field  : “ Come  over  and  help 
us.”  The  appeal  is  pathetic  as  it  comes  up  to  them 
from  groaning  and  burdened  victims  of  disease  and 
sin  all  around  and  so  is  passed  on  to  us.  It  is  stren- 
uous as  it  comes  from  a handful  of  medical  mission- 
aries, who  are  overwhelmed  by  the  needs  and  oppor- 
tunities of  their  work — opportunities  that  have  been 
given  largely  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  the  jreople  at 
home  who  now  fail  to  improve  them.  Shall  not  this 


94 


The  Medical  Mission. 


cry  from  workers  and  patients  burst  open  your  dull 
ears  and  thrill  your  cold  hearts,  causing  you  to  go 
forth  and  deliver  these  bruised  captives,  preach  the 
gospel  to  these  neglected  poor  “ at  such  a time  as 
this”?  Remember,  that  He  wIk),  after  having  healed 
the  multitude,  said  : “ Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest,  that  he  will  send  forth  laborers  into  his 
harvest  ” (Matt.  9:38),  also  said  : “ Lift  up  your  eyes, 
and  look  on  the  fields ; for  they  are  white  already  to 
harvest”  (John  4 : 35).  O lift  up  your  eyes  and 
look,  and  as  you  look,  forget  not  the  Scripture,  which 
says  : “ If  thou  forbear  to  deliver  them  that  are  drawn 
unto  death,  and  those  that  are  ready  to  be  slain  ; . . . 
doth  not  he  that  pondereth  the  heart  consider  it  ? and 
he  that  keepeth  the  soul,  doth  not  he  know  it  ? and  shall 
not  he  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  works  ? ” 
(Prov.  24  : 11,12.) 

Said  a man  of  God  : “ Find  out  God’s  plan  for  you 
in  your  generation  and  see  that  you  cross  it  not.” 
Brother,  have  you  done  this  ? The  will  of  God  for 
your  life,  whatever  your  own  plans  may  be,  is  the 
sweetest,  sublimest,  dearest  thing  you  can  know  and 
do.  Are  you  finding  it  out?  Paul  in  his  letter  to 
the  gentile  Romans,  writes  : “ I beseech  you  there- 
fore, brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  to  present 
your  bodies  a living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  to 
God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service.  And  be  not 
fashioned  according  to  this  world  : but  be  ye  trans- 
formed by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  ye  may 


Appeal  to  Christian  Students.  95 

prove  what  is  the  good  and  acceptable  and  perfect 
will  of  God”  (Rom.  12  : i,  2). 

If  there  is  any  student  who  should  make  the  sacri- 
fice (separation)  of  his  body  unto  God  it  is  he  whose 
work  has  to  do  with  the  body. 

Paul  declares  if  you  would  “ understand  what  the 
will  of  God  is,”  and  remember  he  commands  this,  you 
must  present  yourself  unto  him,  your  life,  your  pow- 
ers, your  talents.  If  you  do  this  you  will  follow  on  to 
know  God.  He  assures  you  that  God’s  will  cannot 
be  otherwise  than  good,  acceptable,  perfect.  To 
the  Ephesians  he  writes  : “ Proving  what  is  accept- 
able unto  the  Lord”  (see  Eph.  5:  10,  17);  to 
the  Colossians : “ That  ye  may  stand  perfect  and 
complete  in  all  the  will  of  God  ” (Col.  4 : 12)  ; to 
the  Hebrews  : “ Having  done  the  will  of  God  ye  might 
receive  the  promises  ” (Heb.  10  : 36).  And  John  in 
his  Epistle  writes  : “ He  that  doeth  the  will  of  God 
abideth  forever”  (i  John  2 : 17).  Jesus  said;  “My 
meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me,  and  tc  fin- 
ish his  work  ” (John  4 ; 34).  “ I came  . . . not  to  do 

mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me  ” 
(John  6 : 38).  If  you  will  make  the  acceptable  sac- 
rifice of  your  life,  he  will  reveal  the  good  and  accept- 
able knowledge  of  his  perfect  will  for  you,  whether 
that  be  to  go  or  stay. 

Brothers,  are  you  living  for  self  and  self-aggrandize- 
ment? Has  not  God  given  your  life  for  a nobler, 
better  purpose?  It  is  perfectly  possible  to  live  most 


96 


The  Medical  Mission. 


and  best  for  God  at  home,  but  if  God  intends  you  to 
go,  you  can  never  be  really  successful  so  long  as  you 
fail  in  doing  his  will.  Are  you  living  “ the  self-cen- 
tered life  ” ? If  so,  I pray  you  come  out  of  it  and 
into  the  ark  of  God’s  plan  for  your  life,  into  “the 
charmed  circle  of  his  will.’’  This  is  your  most 
blessed  privilege.  It  is  his  most  urgent  injunction. 

Said  David  Brainerd  ; “ This  I saw ; when  a soul 
loves  God  with  a supreme  love,  God’s  interests  and 
his  become  one.  It  is  no  matter,  when,  nor  where, 
nor  how  Christ  shall  send  me,  nor  what  trials  he  shall 
exercise  me  with,  if  I may  be  prepared  for  his  work 
and  will.” 

And  may  the  God  of  peace  make  you  perfect  in 
every  good  work  to  do  his  will,  working  in  you  that 
which  is  well-pleasing  in  his  sight ! May  he,  whose 
it  is  to  work  in  you  his  own  good  pleasure  work  out 
of  you  his  own  purpose,  to  the  end  that  God  may  be 
glorified  in  your  body  and  your  spirit  which  are  his  ! 


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